question about lighting and Bristle worms for clams

[sudsy]

Hi all,


I have two questions i was hoping you could answer,

I have 400watts of vho lighting and 120watts of pcs lighting for a total of 520watts on a 58gal tank. Do you think i could keep a maxima clam under that king of lighting or no, if not what kind of clam do you recommend?

Question 2: How harmful are bristle worms to clams i did a serch and have been getting many condradicting answers, bad or not thats all i want to know. and by the way i won't be adding a clam for another few months. Thanks all

Mike

 

[Peabody]

If you really want a clam try a squamosa or derasa. That lighting isn't that good for a maxima....it might survive, but it wouldn't thrive. Bristle worms will eat a dying or dead clam, but a healthy one, no.

 

[reef_freak_hou]

Peabody -

I think that was a great response. I'm glad to see someone else use the terms survive vs. thrive. I'm been using that for awhile and people look at me like I'm crazy.

 

[Peabody]

Thanks....I take no credit for it, however, I've seen it used a lot in reference to clams. I've personally seen maximas under PC/VHO survive for a few months, and then slowly fade and die...they really almost always need that MH PAR.

 

[reef_freak_hou]

Welcome! At least I don't feel alone or crazy now when I use that phrase. I don't know where it originally came from, as I didn't coin the phrase either, but I am a firm believer in it.

I also have seen higher light requiring clams in sub-par lit tanks surviving, but it really breaks my heart.

 

[Rothie]

I've already done the VHO/PC thing.Croceas and Maximas will lose their color.A squamosa or deresa will thrive under that lighting.

 

[sudsy]

I am grateful to your responses but that works out to like 12watts per gallon you really don't think that it is enough light for a maxima or croceas. Not that i doubt you all be that is as massive amount of light for such a tank. Does it not have the intensity of MH is that the problem. Thanks All Mike

 

[Peabody]

Watts per gallon are actually meaningless....what matters is PAR, and how far it gets down through the water. Flourescent tubes simply don't have the PAR, no matter how many watts, and they are not a point source, so what PAR they have doesn't penetrate down through the water.

Once I had about 11 watts per gallon of PCs, but I still had to upgrade to MH because I wanted a maxima. The ironic part is the MH cost me less than my PCs did!

 

[sudsy]

Thanks a lot guys its hard to get some strait answers sometimes thanks for giving me the facts. Mike