please help with recommend timeline for light acclimation

[pfoxgrover]

I have lost 4 maxima clams In QT in the last year or so. I'm not sure why.two of them were greater than 3" and 2 were about 1.5". They all died after just over two weeks. The last one died after 18 days but looked fine until then.
My QT tank is a 20 gallon long with an adjustable 10,000k 100w multichip led. After the first death I've been very slowly ramping up the light level over longer and longer periods thinking Light shock was the problem but now i think I'm waiting too long.
So can i get everyone's opinion on how many days i should spread out the light acclimation?
Thanks,
Paul

 

[pfoxgrover]

QT pic

QT pic

Here is a picture of my QT now with a Derasa clam in that white basket. There is also and a Kole tang in there. The Derasa was purchased at the same time as the small maxima that just died.

 

[30g]

try putting them straight into the display tank

 

[moliken]

try putting them straight into the display tank

don't do that
were the clams you lost shipped from or through really cold weather?
looks like you have MUCHO flow in the qt. may be an issue
lights on 12 off 12

 

[pfoxgrover]

try putting them straight into the display tank

I've got clams before that had Pinched mantel and also pyramid snails so I definitely want to quarantine them.

 

[pfoxgrover]

don't do that

agreed

were the clams you lost shipped from or through really cold weather?

3 of them on two occasions came from a show (reefapolooza) in southern california. The last one was shipped from ORA to petco maybe a few days before I bought it.
Is there some rules of thumb for when to not purchase mail order clams for weather?

looks like you have MUCHO flow in the qt. may be an issue

yeah. That jeabo WP-25 is on the lowest setting should I not use it with clams in there?

lights on 12 off 12

Right now the lights are on a 10.5 hours a day. Is 12 better for light acclimation?

 

[MondoBongo]

try putting them straight into the display tank

no.





to the OP, did the clams show any signs of stress prior to their demise? were they reacting strongly to light? showing good growth along the shell edge? clear for pyramid snails?

 

[pfoxgrover]

[QUOTE to the OP, did the clams show any signs of stress prior to their demise? [/QUOTE]
not that I could tell. seemed to be open like I excepted.

[QUOTE were they reacting strongly to light? [/QUOTE]
I don't have a feel for this. I was told by a clam distributor that their mantel orientation would tell me if they need more or less light. He said they would spread the mantel out really wide if they were light starved and they would put there mantels more vertical if they had too much light.
I tried to look for these signs but never really could tell.

[QUOTE clear for pyramid snails?[/QUOTE]
clear, none.

I have heard like 3 days to get the lights to full power and I have heard 7 days. Mostly I have heard to do it slowly with no mention if it is days or weeks. I'm not sure if that is my problem but I realy feel helpless to know if it is the problem.

 

[pfoxgrover]

Here is a close up of the Derasa that is still alive in the QT system.

 

[moliken]

cut the flow back. if clams came from low light, sloooow acclimation, if not don't

 

[pfoxgrover]

cut the flow back. if clams came from low light, sloooow acclimation, if not don't

So this little guy was under T5s in a shollow tank for a long time before I got him. How many days would you take to get him to 100% under strong LEDs?

The one that was next to him (that died) was probably used to much brighter lights and was a smaller maxima clam do you think I starved it to death in 18 days light acclimating it too slow?

Thanks for the help!

 

[moliken]

well as a derasa he needs less light, but a week for acclimaton should be plenty

 

[pfoxgrover]

well as a derasa he needs less light, but a week for acclimaton should be plenty

OK. Thanks. I replaced the pump to reduce the flow. A week seems reasonable. I've been doing more like a month after the first death.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[pfoxgrover]

Anyone else care to share the procedure for light acclimation????

 

[laga77]

It has been my experience that clams do not need acclimation like corals. They can open and close and move themselves to control the amount of light they get. I have talked to three different LFS`s and they do not acclimate their clams. I believe a lot of the acclimation talk comes from people putting clams high up in their tanks under MH lights and having the infrared heat from the lights hurting the clams.

 

[hart24601]

It has been my experience that clams do not need acclimation like corals. They can open and close and move themselves to control the amount of light they get. I have talked to three different LFS`s and they do not acclimate their clams. I believe a lot of the acclimation talk comes from people putting clams high up in their tanks under MH lights and having the infrared heat from the lights hurting the clams.

I would agree with that for most species, but I have plopped a derasa under some strong LED lights and the mantle started to bleach in a spot. Put him under a ledge and all was good.

 

[moliken]

It has been my experience that clams do not need acclimation like corals. They can open and close and move themselves to control the amount of light they get. I have talked to three different LFS`s and they do not acclimate their clams. I believe a lot of the acclimation talk comes from people putting clams high up in their tanks under MH lights and having the infrared heat from the lights hurting the clams.

first of all, it requires mucho unnecessary effort for a clam to hold itself closed for any length of time
second lfs generally sell a nice clam quickly and don't need to acclimate properly, plus if it's lost it's easily replacable on the next order
last, --unrelated to Iaga's post-- clams cannot be overlit by our lights, they can only be overstressed by quickly going from low light to high light or by too long or short a photoperiod

 

[petemichelle]

first of all, it requires mucho unnecessary effort for a clam to hold itself closed for any length of time
second lfs generally sell a nice clam quickly and don't need to acclimate properly, plus if it's lost it's easily replacable on the next order
last, --unrelated to Iaga's post-- clams cannot be overlit by our lights, they can only be overstressed by quickly going from low light to high light or by too long or short a photoperiod

i don't know about the bit saying clams cannot be overlit by our lights. the reason I'm looking over these threads are that I have a 6 inch maxima clam about half way up my tank on top of the rocks. it's about 20 inches from the led lights. (maxpect 120) and there are bleached spots on his mantel. I have had him probably 2 months and now there are 3 bleached spots that weren't there before. he opens up all the way, reacts to light. if it weren't for these spots one would think all was fine, but there they are... anybody else having these problems or had these spots?? is it due to overnighting???

 

[MondoBongo]

Can you get a good picture? Some of the PAR readings I've seen for clams state 600+. That's a hell of a lot. Not all species of course, but maximas are high light demanders.