maxima under vhos?

[leaffish75]

I have a 20L and want to attempt a clam again. my last attempt ended up with a dead clam. I recieved it damaged. I know most of the lower light clams grow fast and i wont be upgrading to the 90 (its in the garage) for a year or two. I have alot of light over my tank. im running 300 watts of vho that is about 6" from the surface. will this support a maxima?

 

[leaffish75]

.....

 

[grimmjohn]

I've seen around 400W VHO keep lots of clams happy over bigger, deeper tanks so I would say the lighting would be alright.

Cheers,
grimmjohn

 

[Don Berry]

In my opinion you should stay away from Maxima's and go with either a Deresa or a Squamosa. Maxima's are the most light demanding of the Tridacnid clams and really need to be kept under MH in my opinion. It might live, but it probably won't thrive. A Deresa or a Squamosa will do fine under VHO.

 

[leaffish75]

I know deresa and squamosa will do fine but they grow large quickly. Keep in mind im doing 300watts over a 20L.

 

[Don Berry]

I still think they need MH. The intensity between a good quality 10K MH bulb and VHO is siginificant. I still think that it might live, but won't thrive. Just my opinion

 

[grimmjohn]

Theres a T5/VHO thread around here somewhere and lots of the tanks are littered with clams...in a 12 inch deep tank I think the choice between lots of VHO and lots of MH is pretty moot. They're not gonna need 700 PAR. If you plan on upgrading to the 90 then you might as well invest in a MH setup now though if clams and acros are in your future..though there are lots of awesome big acro tanks with around 400-500W VHO. $.02


Cheers,

grimmjohn