Jellyingabout Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Hey guys, After annoying my wife for years with the big marine tanks I've been relegated to a tiny tank. So I figures if I'm going small I'm gonna make it a challenge. I'm aiming for a crocea in a 1.5g jar. I've had the jar up and running to see if I could keep the params steady enough for a clam. Over the past 120 hours the tempuature has fluctuated between 21°C and 23°C. I can raise the temp easy, its the fluctuations i'm more concerned about. I reckon a clam would be fine with a 2°C change provided I can get that between 25-27, but any second opinions? Bear in mind for the first 32 hours of the graph the jar was being messed with a lot which makes the first part of the graph a bit unreliable. Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 What params are you keeping steady for a clam? What else are you monitoring besides temperature? How long ago did you set up the jar, what else is in it? Etc. Link to comment
Jellyingabout Posted April 6, 2015 Author Share Posted April 6, 2015 Well the jar is set up with sand rock and water from a 3 year old 200L tank. I've had no cycle in the jar and its been running for about 2 weeks now. I'm not gonna lie, I've not tested for nutrients for over a year now, I just got used to using various corals as indicators, and kept a healthy discipling maintenance of the tank, however i will be testing for ammonia, pH & dKH in the jar. Two 50% water changes every week initially, ill ramp it down if the tank handles less. I'm planning on keeping a Crocea as they are an intertidal species so will most likely be able to handle the temperature changes and some. however I'm asking because I'd prefer to keep a maxima but am unsure of how they'll handle it. Jar will be stocked with the clam, some feather dusters, a fire shrimp and stony corals. I'll feed phyto before water changes and use NSW as often as I can, (most weeks) Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 It seems that the stony corals will compete with the Clam for carbonates and calcium. In a limited environment like a 1.5G jar, you might be better off having zoas. Clams like ammonia BTW. And the fireshrimp is cute but might pinch the clam, I assume in such a small jar your feeding will be minimal, poor hungry shrimp will go after the clam, possibly. Clams also like dirty water, so do xenia and zoas and mushrooms. All of these could be a complementary coral in texture and personality to the clam, rather than stonies. I'm still not sure the small jar is a good idea but it could work. Link to comment
Jellyingabout Posted April 7, 2015 Author Share Posted April 7, 2015 I'm still not sure the small jar is a good idea but it could work. Haha neither am I, but i want to know if it can be done. I've been keeping marine for years now and i want a challenge. I think your right about the shrimp, I may keep away from it. When i say stony corals i mean very few, like may an acan frag and some monti cap. nothing else. Plus I will be doing water changes twice weekly to keep the CaCO3 up. Good to know that clams are happy with higher ammonia. Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Oh yeah, they love ammonia, phosphates and nitrates, the dirtier the tank the better. Link to comment
Jellyingabout Posted April 7, 2015 Author Share Posted April 7, 2015 haha by the sounds of it my clam will be the healthiest thing in the tank. The only "hard" part I've had keeping clams in other tanks is light, but this one will be less than 12" away from a par20 everything else seems perfect I wonder if, since crocea are inter-tidal species that periodic tempurature changes would be good for them? Much like mytilus sp. which use the change in temperature to regulate feeding modes. Link to comment
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