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sandlot13
11/29/2005, 04:08 PM
Hey, just wanted to know if there was a clam that would do alright under 96W PC on a 10 gallon aquarium. I never looked into them at all really, but at the LFS the other day I saw some that looked stunning! read up on them a little bit, and some of them seem to need less amount of lighting......... so ya, just wondering if it would be possible! thanks!

rharr21
11/29/2005, 06:16 PM
My brother kept three clams in a 2 1/2 gallon tank for about six months with no problems. He had a small corallife compact fluorescent fixture. I'm not sure, but I think it was 18 watts. The clams were a 6in teardrop maxima, a 2 to 3 inch gigas, and a 3in crocea. The maxima had a cool little clear shrimp with dots on it, living inside of it. In the tank there were also six blue leg hermits, a peppermint shrimp, several small colonies of zoos, a piece of live rock, 1 in sand bed, and an unidentified crab that came in on the rock. He did a water change about once a week and replaced about one inch of evaporated water per day with RO. No major problems. He kept his ac on 70 degrees F and the tank never got too hot. I thought that little light fixture was going to cook the tank but it never did. The gigas grew about half an inch in that time the others grew a little but nothing remarkable.

organism
11/29/2005, 07:19 PM
although some people have done it, it's not adviseable, since it's very hard to keep water parameters stable in a smaller tank. for every person with a story like rharr's, do keep in mind that there's 1000 people whose clams died because of the lighting, current, feeding, nutrients, and water stability issues in a tank that small. in my opinion, wait until you have a larger tank that can handle the stability of keeping a clam

sandlot13
11/29/2005, 08:18 PM
okay, so we are talking more about water stability more so than lighting??? 96W PC is not so much the issue as keeping the water at a stable constant??

mbbuna
11/29/2005, 08:25 PM
Originally posted by sandlot13
okay, so we are talking more about water stability more so than lighting??? 96W PC is not so much the issue as keeping the water at a stable constant??

its both, and forget about how many watts you have and think more about the way the light is delivered, the energy(photons)that the light puts out

rharr21
11/29/2005, 08:42 PM
Organism has a good point and what he says is true. I have had good luck with clams in small tanks and lost clams in both small and large stable tanks for known and unknown reasons. Keep reading about them, set up your tank give it some time to mature and for you to learn its ins and out, and use your best judgement.

I would like to add that the whole tank was not thrown together in a day. The tank was started with rock, sand, and filter media from a mature tank. The tank was up and running with the other critters and zoos for a while before the clams were added. The clams were added over a period of about a month and a half. Water parameters were checked every few days until we were sure the tank was stable. And then they were checked on a regular basis, maybe once a week or every ten days.

sandlot13
11/29/2005, 10:16 PM
oh yes, most definitly...... i wouldnt rush into anything like this, because that goes against the cardinal rule of saltwater tanks. :) My tank has been up for several months already, and is finally becoming fully stable. The clean up crew, zoos, and cleaner shrimp are all thriving. I am getting pretty confident now with my parameters that i want to look into something like a clam, thats why i was asking about small tanks. My biggest concern was lighting.

mbbunna - okay, so when you say forget about watts and look at the way the light (photons) is delivered........ what do you mean? Is there a difference in the way that MH and PC "photons" are delivered? I agree its totally possible, but im not sure exactly why you told me this....care to expand on that statement a little bit please???

thanks for the help so far guys! i appreciate it!

mbbuna
11/29/2005, 11:42 PM
if you look at a PC light bulb,lets say a standard 96w. there about 3' long,2- 5/8" tubes next to each other. that's about 6' of tubing being lit buy 96w,that works out to less then 2w per inch.thats not a lot of energy to drive the light through the air and into the water then through the water. and were not even talking about how much is lost do to reflectors, bounce back off the water ect..

now lets look at MH, all the watt energy is coming from a 1/2" point source. the light photons(this is what corals and clams use)are being fired out with a lot more energy behind them and can drive down through the air, water and give that energy to the zoox in the clams and corals, where as with PC and such a lot of the energy is lost just trying to get there.

also MH can do this for a lot longer then PC's.MH bulbs can last for 1 or 2 years before they lose there intensity, Fluorescent last about 6 months

rharr21
11/30/2005, 01:53 AM
It has been my experience that compacts do the job in small tanks because they are shallow.

rharr21
11/30/2005, 02:09 AM
I have not kept clams for more than that six months period or so under compacts. If you read the following thread, some say it can't be done for the long term.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=696004

supraeli
11/30/2005, 07:08 AM
i have 2 croceas under MH in a 10 gallon, and both have been growing rather rapidly in the past few months. one is 4", the other is now 6", started at 3" and 4" respectively.

water stability can be achieved in a 10, but of course it takes the proper maintainence. i do 15% change 2x a week. thats up to you.

i also started the 10 on a powerquad - do not recommend clams under that light, its just not intense enough, even at the top 2-3 inches. perhaps you could try a deresa/squammie/hippopus? i have heard those are less light demanding, but may grow larger.