THE OFFICIAL TRIDACNID CLAM THREAD

[ZephNYC]

tridacna?

 

I don't think so, unless its a Hippopus. Im going to have to truck on over to Kinkos so I can post some pictures and update my excuse for a thread!

[Clammy Bubbles]

Species of clam? 1 maxima, 1 derasa, 1 squamosa

Lighting - bulb, ballast and count? 2, 218W LEDs

Clam depth in the tank in inches? All 26-27" from lights

DOC level estimate? ( dont worry almost nobody can answer this) ???

Do you skim? Yes

Do you run carbon? Occasionally

Do you run GFO? No

Did you ever freshwater dipped the clam ? No

Are you seeing new growth? YES

Calcium/Alk Method? I have REALLY hard water with high calcium. 1x/week 10 gal wc on 90 gal reef

Where and when did you get it? Maxima - ebay, Feb 2014; Squamosa - Petco, Aug 2013; Derasa, LFS, May 2014

Do you purposely feed ? Yes

tank size 90 gal

Most importantly !!!!! Water changing schedual ???? 10 gal/ week treated tap (yes I said tap!!!)

Got nitrates ??? 0-5ppm

[ZephNYC]

Species of clam? 1 maxima, 1 derasa, 1 squamosa

Lighting - bulb, ballast and count? 2, 218W LEDs

Clam depth in the tank in inches? All 26-27" from lights

DOC level estimate? ( dont worry almost nobody can answer this) ???

Do you skim? Yes

Do you run carbon? Occasionally

Do you run GFO? No

Did you ever freshwater dipped the clam ? No

Are you seeing new growth? YES

Calcium/Alk Method? I have REALLY hard water with high calcium. 1x/week 10 gal wc on 90 gal reef

Where and when did you get it? Maxima - ebay, Feb 2014; Squamosa - Petco, Aug 2013; Derasa, LFS, May 2014

Do you purposely feed ? Yes

tank size 90 gal

Most importantly !!!!! Water changing schedual ???? 10 gal/ week treated tap (yes I said tap!!!)

Got nitrates ??? 0-5ppm

 

DO you have acropora in this tank as well ? If I had a tank that was only intended for clams and fish, I would use tap water too.

[Clammy Bubbles]

Yes I've got a variety of acros, blue tips, frogskin, garf bonsai, etc. the oldest (the frogskin) has put on 1" of new growth all around since I switched to LEDs (2 months ago). Before that it wasn't doing real well.

[tetraodon]

Yes I've got a variety of acros, blue tips, frogskin, garf bonsai, etc. the oldest (the frogskin) has put on 1" of new growth all around since I switched to LEDs (2 months ago). Before that it wasn't doing real well.

any tips for acros? other than the given parameters and clean water

[Clammy Bubbles]

Hey tetra, the only tips I can really offer for acros is make sure they get plenty of light and fairly strong flow. Also with all the corals in my tank and the clams, I need a lot of calcium, the tap here has 440+ ppm Ca, so a weekly top off seems to do the trick.

 

I had mine under an old inherited PC, and a marine land LED strip before I got my commercial lights. Had the tank on a 12/12 10k cycle, w/ actinics on 14/8, plus moonlight at night, but got no growth, no polyp extension, and the frogskin eventually started browning out. I put it in my husband's 65 cube under MH and it recovered but still no real growth to speak of. Once I got my 218 watt LEDs, holy c**p....about 2 hours after I placed it (same spot as before) polyps were out and waving, that night the feeder tentacles were out, and since then I've got 1-1 1/2" new growth all around. I looks like its going to be a bushy one. I'll try to post photos later today.

 

Also, fyi, Marine land products are great for growing planted FW tanks but not enough power for a real reef. If you are going to use LEDs, spend the money for commercial equipment and get 180-250 watts for a 90-110 gallon. I got super lucky and found mine on sale at my LFS for half price bc they were upgrading their own lights. They are totally worth it in terms of coral color, growth and just the overall look of the tank. Beware of frying certain species of monti and low light critters tho (scolys, shrooms, some nems). I bleached my 2 scolys (they are fine now) and my pink digitate monti making that mistake.

[ZephNYC]

Hey tetra, the only tips I can really offer for acros is make sure they get plenty of light and fairly strong flow. Also with all the corals in my tank and the clams, I need a lot of calcium, the tap here has 440+ ppm Ca, so a weekly top off seems to do the trick. I had mine under an old inherited PC, and a marine land LED strip before I got my commercial lights. Had the tank on a 12/12 10k cycle, w/ actinics on 14/8, plus moonlight at night, but got no growth, no polyp extension, and the frogskin eventually started browning out. I put it in my husband's 65 cube under MH and it recovered but still no real growth to speak of. Once I got my 218 watt LEDs, holy c**p....about 2 hours after I placed it (same spot as before) polyps were out and waving, that night the feeder tentacles were out, and since then I've got 1-1 1/2" new growth all around. I looks like its going to be a bushy one. I'll try to post photos later today. Also, fyi, Marine land products are great for growing planted FW tanks but not enough power for a real reef. If you are going to use LEDs, spend the money for commercial equipment and get 180-250 watts for a 90-110 gallon. I got super lucky and found mine on sale at my LFS for half price bc they were upgrading their own lights. They are totally worth it in terms of coral color, growth and just the overall look of the tank. Beware of frying certain species of monti and low light critters tho (scolys, shrooms, some nems). I bleached my 2 scolys (they are fine now) and my pink digitate monti making that mistake.

 

Interesting....Have you measured phosphates lately ?

[tetraodon]

I uave the reef breeders value fixture whixh is identical to your light, its only 6-8 inches off the water line and my acros would just a few inches under the water line, so plenty of like and I have a wave maker pointed juat above the area, I did have one acro that survived, never really saw polyps or growth but it lived for 3 plus months, until I hit it with my algae brush, then the tissue disintergrated.

[TheKleinReef]

i forgot to update, i got a new clam and march and totally forgot!

 

Species of clam? Deresa (i think?)
Lighting - 6x39W ATI T5 (3 blue+ 1 purple+ 1 coral+ 1 actinic
Clam depth in the tank in inches? 20" from water surface, 30" from lights
DOC level estimate? n/a
Do you skim? yessir!
Do you run carbon? yessir, passively, 1 cup
Do you run GFO? nope.
Did you ever freshwater dipped the clam ? nope
Are you seeing new growth? not yet,
Calcium/Alk Method? BRS calcium chloride, soda ash 20ml per day of each
Where and when did you get it? Beyond the Reef LFS on March 17, 2014
Do you purposely feed ? phyto, azox, spongepower, CV, daily
Most importantly !!!!! Water changing schedule: 10G per week
Got nitrates: i'm sure i do.

 

New clam by xMrKleinReef, on Flickr

[Clammy Bubbles]

Kleinreef, nice clam!

 

Zeph - last I checked, Ph was 0-0.03; pH 8.1, NO2 0, NH4 0, NO3 0-5, Ca 440+, Alk 3 dkh, 79-80F. The clams and my Xenia help keep excess nutrients down so I have a couple extra fish as well.

[tetraodon]

Kleinreef, nice clam! Zeph - last I checked, Ph was 0-0.03; pH 8.1, NO2 0, NH4 0, NO3 0-5, Ca 440+, Alk 3 dkh, 79-80F. The clams and my Xenia help keep excess nutrients down so I have a couple extra fish as well.

xenia take up nutrients?

[Clammy Bubbles]

Yup!

[jedimasterben]

xenia take up nutrients?

Everything in the tank does.

[ZephNYC]

xenia take up nutrients?

 

Indeed everything does, except fish, durrrrrrrrr...lol.... but certain things are really good at taking up nutrients. Example...caulerpa plants are great, but halmida plants - not so much. Zenia is great, but acropora - not so much. Faster growing species take up nutrients more than slower growing species. Ive seen tanks with aptasia scrubbers, inline tanks packed with aptasia..because they suck up nutrients and reproduce like rabbits. ( jumpy reference).

 

Kleinreef, nice clam! Zeph - last I checked, Ph was 0-0.03; pH 8.1, NO2 0, NH4 0, NO3 0-5, Ca 440+, Alk 3 dkh, 79-80F. The clams and my Xenia help keep excess nutrients down so I have a couple extra fish as well.

 

I only asked because you don't run any phosphate remover, which I can do on some of my tanks, but not on others. Good job!

 

i forgot to update, i got a new clam and march and totally forgot!

 

Species of clam? Deresa (i think?)

Lighting - 6x39W ATI T5 (3 blue+ 1 purple+ 1 coral+ 1 actinic

Clam depth in the tank in inches? 20" from water surface, 30" from lights

DOC level estimate? n/a

Do you skim? yessir!

Do you run carbon? yessir, passively, 1 cup

Do you run GFO? nope.

Did you ever freshwater dipped the clam ? nope

Are you seeing new growth? not yet,

Calcium/Alk Method? BRS calcium chloride, soda ash 20ml per day of each

Where and when did you get it? Beyond the Reef LFS on March 17, 2014

Do you purposely feed ? phyto, azox, spongepower, CV, daily

Most importantly !!!!! Water changing schedule: 10G per week

Got nitrates: i'm sure i do.

 

New clam by xMrKleinReef, on Flickr

 

ANother non GFO user....YAYY!!!! Got phosphates ???

I promise to update the list ASAP, my life is upside down at the moment.

[TheKleinReef]

ANother non GFO user....YAYY!!!! Got phosphates ???

I promise to update the list ASAP, my life is upside down at the moment.

 

i'd say so, just look at the glass

https://flic.kr/p/nDCr8C'>https://flic.kr/p/nDCr8C'>NAT_9145.jpg by https://www.flickr.com/people/113969537@N03/'>xMrKleinReef, on Flickr

[jedimasterben]

Mmmm, snail food.

 

 

Reminds me, I still need to make a reefcleaners order.

[beja]

Im stopping to use gfo .. But i do dose vit c for my zoas .. Which is a carbon dose . Should it rid off some po4 aswell isit?

[jedimasterben]

Should, yes, but realistically the impact is far lower than the reduction of nitrate. As long as your corals and such are staying colorful, though, I would not worry about phosphate. Too many people chase numbers and do more harm than good. I've seen many large, mature tanks with colonies as large as I am that had nitrate and phosphate levels that were 'sky high' in comparison to the 'typical' targets of less than 2ppm nitrate and 0.03ppm phosphate.

[tetraodon]

So worry less about nitrate and phosphates, so id assume stuff like temp salinity ph and few other params, keep with in a range, hhhmmm wonder how that works with acros

[jedimasterben]

keep salinity and alk stable above all else. Temperature, pH, nitrate, phosphate, all of those can fluctuate with no issues. calcium and magnesium just keep in range to make sure alk doesn't precipitate.

[tetraodon]

So what does it mean when alk precipitates

[jedimasterben]

It's the reason why you cannot dose calcium chloride and sodium carbonate or bicarbonate at the same time, the two solutions mix to form sodium chloride (salt) and aragonite (calcium carbonate). If both are added at the same time, you'll notice the tank immediately turns into a white cloud, which is the aragonite that has now formed, and it must settle or be taken out by filtration.

[tetraodon]

Fun with chemesty, thanks master ben

[cnseekatz]

Anyone know what a baby clam looks like? Got any photos?

 

One of my clams has a little bivalve attached to it that looks like a clam. I guess I never really thought about it.

[jedimasterben]

https://www.facebook.com/Acroalperth