Switching tanks.How do i remove 4" Maxima with a solid foot down.

[BLKTANG]

He is on the sand bed.

 

[mbbuna]

if its attached to the glass bottom then move the sand away from the clam and take a razor and slide it along the glass. if its on a rock thats too large to move with it then tip it to one side and cut the byssal threads as far away from the clam as you can

 

[BLKTANG]

yeah its on the glass.What kind of stress should i expect?

 

[mbbuna]

other then the clam closing up from you touching it, none. its important to stay as far away from the clam as you can, thats why i said slide the blade along the glass. you can think of the byssal threads kinda like hair, the clam wont feel a thing

 

[jmaneyapanda]

expedition- just make sure you put him where you want him. I cringe everytime I read of someone moving a clam because of a non-critical reason. Moving it to another tank is quite legitimate. But moving it to another rock so I can put a new SPS frag in that location sounds non-critical to me.
I think there is a very important caveat to what Mbbuna said- there will be little or no stress IF IT IS DONE CORRECTLY. Sometimes it is not very easy to have easy access to the byssal threads, so it cant or wont always be done very easily- even by "experts". I would classify it as a risky- but not necessarily stressful.