Light requirements for Crocea and Maxima in a 55

[fish_taste_good]

I am thinking of trying a clam or two in my 55. I am leaning towards a crocea or maxima clam.

Right now, i have 440 watts of VHO on it, and I might be adding another 440 watts of VHO to it.

Would the 440 Watts be enough to keep these clams, or would i need the full 880, or should i not even try them without MH.

Thanks,

Alan

 

[jda]

Much asked question. I personally would not try it without halides. This is mostly an issue of depth and light penetration. VHO just don't penetrate like MH do. ...and you cannot guarantee to keep clams up in the rockwork. They will end up where they want, not where you want.

Best case, one might survive, but not thrive. Some have gotten it to work, many have failed.

Check out a blue rim deresa. They are beautiful and could flourish under VHOs.

 

[Barry N.]

and I might be adding another 440 watts of VHO to it.

Instend of adding more VHO, why not just upgrade to MH, then you could keep all the species.

 

[Scuba Dog]

If you have to have maximas and croceas then definitly invest in the halides systems....I would look at 250's your choice Single Ends or Double Ends...the 150DE's may work but the clams would need to be up on the rock work some....

 

[fish_taste_good]

Thanks for the replies. I finally got through on the search feature and found out the answer myself.

As far as the MH option goes, I am having a difficult time spending the money on them on top of the increase in my monthly eletric bills.

I have two IceCap 660's and one A4 ballast on my hands right now. I may take the route of selling off one and eating the rest and buy MH's.

However, I have been reading alot about T5 light's and was curious about how they would work under them. I was thinking of keeping the 440 watts of VHO and adding the max amount of T5's (if i can fit them all in the hood) and using one of the IceCap 660's to drive the T5's.

Any thoughts about the use of the T5's and clam keeping? I hear the main difference is the T5's dont have the MH "shimmer". Is this the main difference i should be concerned with, or are their others?

thanks

alan

 

[jda]

I don't think that T5 penetrate quite like MH does. PAR at depth is what you want.

A lot of the T5 effectiveness is from the reflector.

Even if you put on 440W VHO and 8 T5s, you still would not likely have as much PAR as 2 250W Double Ended halides. 500W for the halides, and maybe 1000+ for the flourescents... not to mention the bulb replacement costs.

Also, when you consider tubes, blue or atinic tubes don't produce much PAR. You should only really consider your white bulbs.

 

[Peabody]

I agree. More VHOs/PCs/T5s with bulb replacement costs often equals the cost of just going halide. I swapped out a bank of PCs for a MH system and the elec. just went up a few bucks, and the bulb replacement costs stayed about the same.

 

[JeffMo]

fish_taste_good, you need to look at this thread and look at all the VHO users tanks and what they are keeping successfully in their tanks (includes many sps and clams).

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=206608

Also, a fictional thing that many MH users or T5 users will tell you is that VHO bulbs will not last very long(6 months). However, if you talk to ASH at IceCap he will tell you that is no longer the case, particularly with the URI bulbs and Icecap ballasts. He says that they should last 18-24 months, before needing changed.

 

[jda]

VHO is adequate, or more than adequate, for most things. I just don't think that maxima or crocea are one of them.

VHO bulbs should last a year at least on icecap e-ballasts. They only say 6 months if they are on mag ballasts.

 

[JeffMo]

All I know is, that an authority in lighting says that VHO bulbs should last 18-24 (ASH from ICECAP). Also, in the thread I linked in my last post, many are keeping clams just fine, and they're growing. Look at the entire thread to see for yourself, if you haven't. I'm not just guessing at this, or giving opinion.

 

[jda]

Ask ASH how long they will last on ARO or shop-type VHO ballasts. Not as long. They should last at least a year in any case.

I am not saying that it won't work. Some have gotten it to. Nevertheless, most have failed. Search back in this forum for all of the "maxima clam grew and was happy for 6 months, but died all of a sudden". Most were using flourescents of some sort.

Check out PAR ratings of VHOs, T5s and PCs. They are not enough at any type of depth. Also, water clarity is an issue too with PAR. Maybe if you run carbon, ozone and UV, then the floruescent bulbs might penetrate better, but most people don't have that kind of water quality.

If MH is the only light source guaranteed to be enough, why would anybody "try" an organism that won't thrive without it? MH lighting is the only lighting that more people have had more success than failure keeping crocea and maxima under. Sure, there are abberations, but counting on beating the odds is not responsible husbandry IMO.

 

[JeffMo]

Per your suggestion, I searched the entire RC messageboards, and went thru the pages of this one particular looking for titles about clam dying, clam death, clam turning brown, and clam health questions. Most, if not all, had MH's. So, I'm not sure where you are getting that from. It sounds more to me like water parameters and such have more to do with it than having MH's. If I'm wrong, please show me the threads where people have 440W VHO's and their clams died do to lack of sufficient lighting. Go back thru some of the pages on this board about those things I listed and most will have had MH's.

You have no way of knowing that 440W VHO's aren't enough, and that MH's are the only way to go and that anything less just isn't enough.