New Clam Owner,need helps! Pics attached

[philipchan]

Hello everyone,
I just bought 2 clams yesterday, and I don't even know their names.
The first one is the blue one, size about 2 inches.
And the second one is the blue & gold, size about 3.5 inches.
Q. 1 is what type of clams are they?
Q. 2 is where should I place them? Sand?Rocks? I put the small one on the rock and the bigger one on the send bed. Is that Ok?
Q. 3 Is my water/light/set up OK for them?↓
--------------------------
18G tank
10G sump/Rufg
Jebo filter
AC
Skimmer
5W UV
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SG ~1.024~1.025
PH ~8.2
PO4 0
NO2 0
NO3 10~20
KH 9~10
Temp 77~79
Cal. ~420
-----------------------------
150W 20K Metal light
18W Blue light
---------------------------

Q4. My Fire Shrimp always go to the bigger clam and bother it, the clam seems doesn't like it!!! Even the shrimp pick on it, I think It did hurt my clam a tiny bit. Is that normal? My Fire shrimp like to stay at my bigger one, and my cleaner shrimp likes to stay on my small clam...But they will all go away after I feed them Krill, should I just feed my shrimp Krill every day to keep them away from my clams??

Here are some pics below, I would be so appreciate for you help !

2 Inch clam

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3.5inch clam

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[philipchan]

side shot↓

whole tank shot↓

Fire shrimp bother my clam ↓

 

[a4twenty]

both are corcea's

with such a small tank and 150W halide you should be fine, just keep an eye on their colour.

keep working on your NO3 but it's borderline right now.

hopefully the shrimp are just interested because they are new and will grow bored of them.

a blue tang needs a much larger tank ( 150+ ) and will quickly outgrow yours, don't let the tang police see that.


HTH

 

[Ohiomom]

+1 on all that is said..keep in mind though that the shrimp can do some real damage to the clam..me personally I wouldn't chance it.

I would also move the clam or the coral and give them some seperation unless they are not as close to eachother as they appear to be.

 

[philipchan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15544849#post15544849 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by a4twenty
both are corcea's

with such a small tank and 150W halide you should be fine, just keep an eye on their colour.

keep working on your NO3 but it's borderline right now.

hopefully the shrimp are just interested because they are new and will grow bored of them.

a blue tang needs a much larger tank ( 150+ ) and will quickly outgrow yours, don't let the tang police see that.


HTH

Thanks !!
I will trade my small blue tang to something else when it gets bigger, didn't know blue tang need bigger tang before I bought it.
And where should I place the Corceas ? On sand or on rocks??
Also I'm having a hard time to keep the NO3 down ~_~
Is there some good products can keep the NO3 down?
I have the PO4 reactor which is doing a great job to keep my PO4 0, is there any NO3 reactor ? I change 25% of water every week. The No3 still stay around 10~20

 

[MRICKEN1012]

Sounds like you should do research before you buy.....

 

[a4twenty]

not to beat a dead horse but removing the tang will help with NO3, they are poo machines.

what type of sand and how deep of a bed do you have??

 

[phil519]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15544952#post15544952 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by philipchan
Thanks !!
I will trade my small blue tang to something else when it gets bigger, didn't know blue tang need bigger tang before I bought it.
And where should I place the Corceas ? On sand or on rocks??
Also I'm having a hard time to keep the NO3 down ~_~
Is there some good products can keep the NO3 down?
I have the PO4 reactor which is doing a great job to keep my PO4 0, is there any NO3 reactor ? I change 25% of water every week. The No3 still stay around 10~20

Croceas are always found in the wild on LR. If you can't secure it on LR - secure it on a flat piece of shell (e.g. clam shell) and then once it's secured on that shell - you move it by the shell it's sitting on.

There are reactors to reduce nitrate - but i'm not sure i would purchase more equipment for an 18g tank. It's a beauty by the way - and I love how you have set it up. I'm surprised you haven't upgraded to a big tank yet.

But I agree with the others - the tang is probably eating so much and pooping so fast the NO3 is spiking.

 

[philipchan]

Thanks !!!
It helps a lot

I will remove the pooping machine (lovely small Blue tang)
and replace with some smaller fish.

My sand bed in the main tank was live sand when I had them since 2 years ago, about 1 inch deep. I know is not enough, but can I add some more now....?after everything is set up?
for the sump I put more, about 2 inches sand bed. I bought them dry, but washed pretty well, and cleared out the PO4 completely.

I keep learning more and more now I wanted to up-size my tank, but I'm living in an apartment. Can't have a big one >_<"


Oh forgot to mention, I also have
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In sump
10 cleaner clam,
2 flame scallops
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In tank
10 hermit crabs
10 snails
1 Fire shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
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as a cleaning crew, is that enough for 18G tank and 10G sump @.@?

 

[a4twenty]

i wouldn't say that your sand beds aren't enough but at that depth you need to make sure they are getting cleaned or do it manually. if they aren't getting turned over and cleaned by the CUC they can become a nitrate factory.

what snails do you have?? and are any in your sump???

 

[philipchan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15548651#post15548651 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by a4twenty
i wouldn't say that your sand beds aren't enough but at that depth you need to make sure they are getting cleaned or do it manually. if they aren't getting turned over and cleaned by the CUC they can become a nitrate factory.

what snails do you have?? and are any in your sump???

What is CUC ? I don't have that much place left that can let me clean the sand. I have LR or coral almost covered all the sand @.@.
Does a Diamond Goby helps with that ? Or even a wrass?

I have 1 big Turbo snail. About 6~8 of the Nassarius Snail.
I put one hermit crab in the sump, but no Snail.

Oh, I don't know why. But I'm having a lot of the "Slug" ( I'm not too sure how to call them) They look like a little snail, with a tiny shell. And they are afraid of light. Always hide under the stone and eat algae when the lights out. But some how, they keep giving a lot of eggs to the water(Once in a few days)Spawning and shot to the water. I can see that pretty clearly. Does that matter to my water? But is very hard to eat them out !! They are small and pretty fast.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[phil519]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15549953#post15549953 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by philipchan
What is CUC ? I don't have that much place left that can let me clean the sand. I have LR or coral almost covered all the sand @.@.
Does a Diamond Goby helps with that ? Or even a wrass?

I have 1 big Turbo snail. About 6~8 of the Nassarius Snail.
I put one hermit crab in the sump, but no Snail.

Oh, I don't know why. But I'm having a lot of the "Slug" ( I'm not too sure how to call them) They look like a little snail, with a tiny shell. And they are afraid of light. Always hide under the stone and eat algae when the lights out. But some how, they keep giving a lot of eggs to the water(Once in a few days)Spawning and shot to the water. I can see that pretty clearly. Does that matter to my water? But is very hard to eat them out !! They are small and pretty fast.

Thanks!!!!!

CUC is an acronym for Clean Up Crew.

I would not add any fish to the tank to help with turning over the sandbed. The issue might be that your sandbed is becoming a nutrient sink (as a4twenty says) because its' completely covered by your LR/coral. The sandbed in the sump is considered too small to effect nitrates.

It's controversial for sure the benefits of a Deep Sand Bed - but in order to reduce nitrates, it needs to be a minimum 4 inches. The depth allows for the non-aerobic bacteria to form and they consume the nitrate.

That stated - I have my doubts of any DSB that will work for a 10g sump. My rationale is that a) it's too small to yield much benefit and b) the size is so small that any kind of self-sustaining CUC will be too big...(then they starve and you have a mess all over again).

Are you sure all the cleaner clams are alive? Not one stinking it up in there right?

 

[Ohiomom]

You may also want to check the scallops..they are very hard in most cases to keep alive especially in such a small tank..

 

[philipchan]

First Thank you so much for the informations !!!

At first when I started the tank, I only put fish. But now I changed to coral. And started learning a lot from this forum. But now I can't add anymore sand bed, so what should I do then??
Wow...i didn't know that if my CUC starve, I will have a mess @_@But how?

Will the Slug eggs affect my water??

Oh, all the cleaning clam are still alive, 10 of them. I did check, pick them up from the sand, and they went back down again. And left 2 little stick out to pump the water ^^ No stink smell
I had them for 2 weeks now, they are doing ok, I always keep my water at 77~79
I had my flame scallop for a week and they are still fine, open up pretty well, they seems pretty happy with the good flow of my sump.


And i listened to you guys, put my Corceas on the rocks under the light, they seems pretty happy with it, opened pretty good last night!!

Here is the pic of my set up...I know is strange, but everything was add on after my tank set for 2 years for fish

here is my sump, 10cleaning clam, 2 scallop, 1 damsel, 1 hermit crab, some Chaeto, skmimer with UV, PO4 reator

 

[phil519]

Oh - i see a cannister filter. Is that a chiller also? You are so ready for a bigger tank...lol.

The cannister is probaby the reason for the nitrate readings. The filter is an excellent mechanical device for Fish Only or Fish Only with Live Rock (FOWLR) tanks - but it is almost too efficient for reef tanks.

What you can do is slowly (never do anything quickly) - slowly remove some of the substrate or whatever the name is from the cannister. With Eheim they have those donut like rings. That's where all the colonized bacteria will be.

If you reduce the amount in there - the nitrate levels should drop.

Do not take them all out at the same time as doing so may cause an ammonia reading.

Then you can continue using the cannister for chemical media like carbon.

 

[tdp22]

For god's sakes man get a bigger tank. I have less equipment going on a 65 gal system!! Tank looks great and clams seem happy. I say give them a few days to see how they react.my NO3 stays about there and my crocea seem to have no ill side effects. Just watch those inverts... they are always looking for a free meal. Ha!

 

[a4twenty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15551333#post15551333 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phil519
The cannister is probaby the reason for the nitrate readings.

i agree, any mechanical filtration ( canister filter and those black sponges in your sump ) if not cleaned very regularly ( daily or every couple days ) will trap food and detritus. as the food / detritus breaks down, nitrates are released back into the tank. in a reef tank we try to stay away from any form of mechanical filtration.

the same holds true for the sand beds, if food and detritus is allowed to accumulate, the sandbed turns into a nitrate factory. maybe move a couple of nassarius from the tank into the sump, just to help turnover and clean the bed.


you have a great looking setup there, keep reading and learning, it's what this hobby is all about

 

[philipchan]

Yea....the cannister filter is for pumping the chiller.
So i can actually remove the black sponge ...?
It has a big black sponge and several thin white tiny sponge inside.
Also has some rings and little stones in there too.
Should I remove all of them after all? or leave some of them...?

I usually clean it once a week, or once per 2 weeks.
I take out the whole filter, drain out all the water, and clean the sponge, and fill up with new salt water. (about 2.5 Gallon)
is this ok? Or i should just clean the sponge and leave the water in the filter?

One more quick question, I know the left over food if not eaten, they will goes into bad things under the sand bed or goes to the filter. But what about the fish's poop ? Only filter/ skimmer / carbon can take it??

Thank you so much for you guys' help,I'm keep reading and learning now
This is a great forum!

 

[phil519]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15557751#post15557751 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by philipchan
Yea....the cannister filter is for pumping the chiller.
So i can actually remove the black sponge ...?
It has a big black sponge and several thin white tiny sponge inside.
Also has some rings and little stones in there too.
Should I remove all of them after all? or leave some of them...?

I usually clean it once a week, or once per 2 weeks.
I take out the whole filter, drain out all the water, and clean the sponge, and fill up with new salt water. (about 2.5 Gallon)
is this ok? Or i should just clean the sponge and leave the water in the filter?

One more quick question, I know the left over food if not eaten, they will goes into bad things under the sand bed or goes to the filter. But what about the fish's poop ? Only filter/ skimmer / carbon can take it??

Thank you so much for you guys' help,I'm keep reading and learning now
This is a great forum!

We are starting to move out of the clam forum..

I would try removing a piece at a time - making sure you do not get an ammonia spike. Each piece is probably colonized by a large number of helpful bacteria. But as mentioned - each piece can also trap detritus.

I think removing the water during water changes is fine.

Left over food - if any should be eaten by your corals and for the pieces that escape them - bristle worms, nasssarius snails, hermits and possibly even crabs. Personally I utilize nassarius snails. most tanks have bristle worms as hitchers.

The idea here is for solid left over food to be consumed and broken down into smaller pieces of detritus. Then other scavengers may consume the detritus (amphipods etc) and break it down to smaller detritus. until finally the material can be broken down into nitrate which is exported (somewhat) via the clam and mostly via water changes.

 

[philipchan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15558747#post15558747 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phil519
We are starting to move out of the clam forum..

I would try removing a piece at a time - making sure you do not get an ammonia spike. Each piece is probably colonized by a large number of helpful bacteria. But as mentioned - each piece can also trap detritus.

I think removing the water during water changes is fine.

Left over food - if any should be eaten by your corals and for the pieces that escape them - bristle worms, nasssarius snails, hermits and possibly even crabs. Personally I utilize nassarius snails. most tanks have bristle worms as hitchers.

The idea here is for solid left over food to be consumed and broken down into smaller pieces of detritus. Then other scavengers may consume the detritus (amphipods etc) and break it down to smaller detritus. until finally the material can be broken down into nitrate which is exported (somewhat) via the clam and mostly via water changes.

Thanks Phil
You helped me a lot !!
What about those rings and little rocks stuff in the filter, can I keep them in there?