Lighting for Clams?

[Beckmola24]

Do Maxima's deffinately need Halide lighting?? I have a 20 gallon tank with some SPS. They are doing great. I have a 130Watt power compact with 2 LED mood lights. The SPS are doing great under the lighting, but I don't know too much about what Tridacna maxima's or what any others need. I'd love to add a clam to my tank. They are so pretty. Thanks for your help!

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

First, I have seen then kept under PC's. The down side is I dont know if that was just Temp. (and I suspect it was) or if they had been in the tank for a long period of time. The colors were obviously not as brillant as they could have been. I have kept them in a QT tank over 9 watts per a gallon in a 10 gallon tank for three weeks. While they opened up good and looked pretty nice...they "exploded" when they got under the 400 watt halides in my main display! In a couple of weeks color wise they didnt even look like the same clam. With that being the case in my experience, I wouldnt recommend them without halides, as most dealers recommend. I am sure there are some out there that are able to pull this off under PC's and VHO's so its possible with enough wattage. One thing you have to remember is they generate a lot of thier food through use of light and symbiotic algae. If its under 3 inches it will pretty much need regular feedings with DT's etc...However over 3 inches they can pretty much hold thier own through light and sybiotic algae although occasional feedings will still be beneficial.

Hopefully I explained this well enough, I am Japanese and my English isnt so good. HTH's

 

[Beckmola24]

Your English is fine! Thanks for the info. You confirmed what I thought would be the case. I will hopefully be setting up a larger tank with halides sometime in the near future. Thanks again!

 

[mojoreef]

Great post Ristuko and welcome to Reef Frontiers. Becky he is dead on, un like sps type corals, clams raise thier zoox algae in order to eat them, so good lighting is key to a healthy clam.


Mike

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

Ristuko is a female name as is most Japanese names ending in ......'ko , but no offense taken. Just wanted to clear that up before we get too carried away. Thanks for the support. Yeah I am still trying to perfect that English thing but its very different from Japanese. I cant believe I even spelled my name wrong when registering...it should have been Ritsuko! I guess I will get it right one day..........:lol:

 

[Witfull]

ill have one of the bigwigs look at it and see if we can fix it for you Ritsuko....and welcome to our corner of the reef.

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

Thanks, It would be greatly appreciated!!!

Becky

Dont let the lighting issue discourage you on keeping clams. There are a few that will probably do alright under your existing lighting and they are fairly colorful too, just not as vivid as the Corceas and Maximas. After testing the waters with one of the other types of clams you can always up grade your lighting later and get Maximas or Croceas. They are really beautiful animals. I have several and they are definitely the highlight of my tank along with some of the SPS colonies I have.

Should you decide to do the "clam thing", I would most highly recommend a QT tank. Pyrmid snails are a real "nasty" and they are very difficult to rid from you tank once you get them. Just a suggestion....

 

[Beckmola24]

Ritsuko,
Thank you for all of the helpful information! What types of clams do you think would do well under my lighting? I have some hitchhiker clams living in my tank and I find them very interesting. Other than needing the zoox algae to live, are they rather hardy??or are they hard to keep?? I appreciate all the help so far! Thanks!

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

Okay lets see if I can pull this off....

Without seeing a pic, I am going to assume that they are just a typical bi-valve type clam that often comes on Live Rock and sometimes the rubble that corals are attached to. They are pretty cool just not real colorful. I have several in one of my tanks. Most are still alive a year later but I drop a good bit of phyto in there for some of my other critters. Keep the food level up and they should hang in there for you. I cant make you any promises though...

I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that prehaps Derasa, Gigas, and Squamosa clams would be quiet doable under strong PC or VHO lighting. Do some research though on these as one of them can get quiet HUGE! Not sure in English which one, but Clams Direct has a forum that caters to the "Clam Junkies" and they have a lot of very detailed info on clam keeping. Although these are not as infamous for thier color as Croceas and Maximas, some can be rather strikingly marked! These will more than likely be colored in shades of Gold, Browns and Greens - more neutal/earthy tones color wise.

The other thing about clams too, is they can be quiet the "calcium hogs" too. You will want to keep the calcium levels in your tank around 400-450 level. You might be able to do this with just water changes, but more than likely you will have to add calcium supplements to your tank. I believe there are two part mixes that work, Cailcium Reactors and Kalkwasser seem to be the more common methods where I am at. I personally drip Kalkwasser and that technique works well for me.

Hope this helps out some.....

 

[Witfull]

gigas are the monster clams. they only belong in the largest of tanks.

 

[Beckmola24]

Wow Ritsuko! Awesome info! I really appreciate it. I will look up that site you mentioned. I don't really care about the color. I just like clams. I used to go catch freshies in ponds when I was a kid. =) Thanks again!

 

[MikeS]

I have a T Derasa that has thrived under my VHO/PCF combo for over two years now...

I would be cautious about keeping a clam under PC's alone...I would be doubtful of the PC's ability to provide the clam with the spectrum it needs...

MikeS

 

[Beckmola24]

I have a 10K and a Actinic combo (65 each). What spectrum/s do clams need for proper growth and health?

 

[Elmo18]

A lot of the clams are found within 2 meters of the surface of the water, i.e croceas, derasas, maximas, etc.

Sunlight is around 6500 kelvin range, so 10k will be fine. However, intensity is more important with clams as others have said. While PC's and VHO's may give out the right range of light, it is not intense enough to keep the color of the ultra clams found in shallow reefs.

- Elmo

 

[Beckmola24]

I will try and stay away from them until I get my halides up and running. I have an awesome lighting unit with 2 250HQI halides and T5 Actinics but I don't have the tank for them....
=( Still waiting for it to come in. Thanks a lot everyone for your input and help! I really appreciate it.

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

I agree completely with Elmo18's reply. This is why you will often hear of people keeping clams and having 400 watt 20K halides on say a 75 gallon tank when normally 175's or 250's would be adequate with 10K's. It brings out the best in colors but yet the intensity of 400 watt bulbs make up for what 20K's lack in intensity. Hopefully I made enough sense with that explaination.

I am currently using 400 watt 10K XM's but at bulb change time I will be changing to 20K's. The reason for this other than the renta frying bright white light is that the color I get with heavy actinic lighting is absolutely astounding and since the 400 watt halides over my 135 are more than adequate I feel like I can get away with using 20K's and still maintain acceptable light intensity. Its a bit of a balancing act...you see. I am currently running 12.4 watts per a gallon. While its hard to argue "you can never have too much light", I think there is a point where you reach a point of deminishing return in reguards to lighting. I am of the opinion that I have reached this point on this tank and going to a "less intense" bulb wouldnt be such a bad thing. JMHO.......

 

[MikeS]

I agree as well. I selected the T Derasa because of its track record of being able to thrive under VHO's compared to other clams.

When I upgrade my tank, I'm going to replace my PC's with MH's...

MikeS