quick easy clam QT and acclimation

[mbbuna]

Ok! i broke down and bought 2 clams Saturday. the first clams we've gotten in a year or so, so i had to set up the QT.

a QT can be as simple as you like or complex. i like simple. heres what i set up.

its just 2- 20gal tanks in a storage room in the basement. i used a pump from my RO container, spare heater, and took about 25gal out of our main system and 5 chunks of live rock i had sitting in the sump. done in all of 25min.

you can use a 10 gal tank if you like, with a simple foam filter(when not in use keep the foam in your sump) or a few chunks of LR and an air stone. you will be surprised how much water movement you get with just an air stone.

i set everything up 24hours ahead but if your using water from your tank and whatever you use for biological filtrating is already established you can use it right away.

9:10am there's a knock at the door

after the bomb sniff is done i feel safe to open the box

 

[mbbuna]

reputable vendors will include recommended acclimation instructions

as usual the packing was great. foam box, heat pack and extra thick double bags.

i usually take the extra bag(s) off so there is just one left. then place in the tank to match the temp. let it sit for 20-30 min. don't turn your lights on, the clams have been in complete darkness for 12 or 14 hours and you don't want to shock them, also intense lights will heat the water in the bag faster then the rest of the tank

while your waiting test the SG of the shipping water so you know how far off from your tank water it is and how much adjusting you need to do. my test showed 1.026, that what i keep my tank at so i was good, but you still need to slowly add water to get other parameters matched. the PH in the bag will be low, the clams been that small bag pulling O2 out and giving off CO2. you could test these things if you like but i dont bother, i just assume they are different then my tank.

next after the temp has matched, add about a 1/4 cup of water from the tank, wait 10 or 15min and do it again. do this untill you at least double the volume of water in the bag.

now test the SG in the bag to see if its the same as your tank. if so its time to put it in the tank.

remove the clam from the bag and give it a quick inspection. if you find a snail or something that can be QUICKLY removed do it. but the clam has been through enough stress already so if whatever cant be quickly removed just put the clam in the QT and deal with it later.

i found this

i dont know what it is but it would have taken some scrubbing to remove, ill deal with that later after the clams have settled in. that's why you should QT everything wet you get.

 

[mbbuna]

ok so the clams are in the tank now. you don't want to turn the lights on right away. give them a few hours.

while i was waiting i took a 150w MH off my frag tank and put it over the QT. any decent marine quality light should work but i thing its best to use something close to what you will be keeping them under.

i also put a piece of acrylic over the tank that i dipped in the sump so it gets covered with salt to help shade the clams from the light. i could have used the dirty screen on my front door also

now i know these clams were under 250w MH before i got them but its still a good idea to acclimate them to new lighting.

im going to keep the lights off for 4 or 5 hours then give them about 6 hours of light today, then over the next few days slowly increase the light up to about 9 hours

 

[mbbuna]

here they are

 

[kaptken]

WOW!! Nice instructional Chris!!

I feel like i was right there for the whole delivery. Shows why we never toss out our old little tanks and equipment. they make handy erector sets for occasions like this. That's a handy little tank rack attached to the wall. your basement equipment room has everything. and you homeland security specialist seems up to the task!! SNIFF..SNIFF...

Nice clams! they should be happy there. no idea what that orange stuff is. sponge? tunicate? or is it an encrusting hard coral? maybe scrape it off and stick it on a rock to see what it grows into?

Great post Chris
thanks

 

[mbbuna]

i didnt look at it too good at first. just wanted to get them in the tank. at first glance it looked like an egg mass of some kind but i think its either a colony tunicate or some kind of hard coral. in a couple of days after the clams settle in ill take a real close look

 

[mbbuna]

day 2, clams are doing great!!
i got a closer look at the mystery "thing" it either a colony tunicate or some kind of coral. what do you think?

clams will get a 10% water change tomorrow(every 2 days). i will also be adding live phyto everyday. i don't intentionally feed my clams in the main tank but because this tank is fish less there needs to be some kind of nutrient import.

 

[kaptken]

Cool! must be some kind of coral. or polyp. its like it has a center and different fringe gowing edge. must be animal . is it laying down skeleton structure? or al soft.? how does the clam mantle react to touching those near the edge of the shell? any reaction?

 

[mbbuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8696581#post8696581 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kaptken
Cool! must be some kind of coral. or polyp. its like it has a center and different fringe gowing edge. must be animal . is it laying down skeleton structure? or al soft.? how does the clam mantle react to touching those near the edge of the shell? any reaction?

i haven't touched it yet Ken. just looking right now.

the clam is totally unaffected by it. ive been doing some looking and its looking more and more like a colony tunicate, im just amazed by the color

 

[mbbuna]

i think the mystery encrusting object is a Botryllus

http://www.edge-of-reef.com/tunicati/htmen/TUNbotryllusen.htm

 

[kaptken]

Wow! those are really nice. I guess you got a good hitch hiker. perhaps you will get a good culture of them growing.

hey thats a great link too. lots of good stuff on the rest of the site. thanks man.

 

[wds21921]

Nice Chris, it looks like a grateful dead sponge. I've seen some single color tunicates but none multicolored. Great find.