what type of clam?

[captainhaddock]

I have a 10g tank and I've looked on different forums, I'm not really sure what clam is right for my tank?

 

derasa

maxima

crocea

 

I have a coralife aqualight 50/50 96 watt

 

thanks

[abernier]

derasa will be the best for your tank. crocea and maxima both need metal hailde lighting

[USFnano]

A derasa should be fine for a while, but will outgrow the tank. Make sure to keep up on your ca/alk.

[captainhaddock]

I take it that cal means calcium and alk, alkaline- how do I keep these up and what levels, is frequent water changes enough?

 

thanks

[onthefly]

Cpt. haddock - Don't take this wrong, but do yourself and the clam a favor and hold off for awhile!!

 

In a tank with PC's, clams need darn perfect water parameters (i.e. Temp, pH, Calcium, and Alk). Sounds like your just getting into reefing and a clam probably won't fare well in a new system.

 

Once you establish the tank and can maintain the parameters then a smaller deresa is best, but as pointed out, they grow BIG so it is basically temporary.

[BKtomodachi]

None of the above.

[Steve973]

boy, posts are great when they just say "yes" or "no" and don't offer a reason why. People should try to give good information rather than boosting their daily post numbers. Bk, your post was unnecessary after onthefly's.

 

Capain Haddock, you might consider reading the articles at:

http://www.nano-reef.com/info/

and you should probably allow your tank to establish itself for a year while you do research and experiment with soft corals before you attempt more "advanced" animals.

[BoBoSkater]

Originally posted by captainhaddock

I take it that cal means calcium and alk, alkaline- how do I keep these up and what levels, is frequent water changes enough?

 

thanks

 

I just put some buffer in twice a week to keep my cal and alk levels up

[dzhuo]

boy, posts are great when they just say "yes" or "no" and don't offer a reason why.

 

completely agree.

 

I just put some buffer in twice a week to keep my cal and alk levels up

 

is it really that easy? what buffer do you use? how much do you add each time and what animals are you keeping with? what salt are you using? i am really interested to find out becuase you are doing much better than i am! i have been adding b-ionic 2 parts for several months now and my alk/cal can barely keep up. my tank is 10g and i add 20ml (just for comparsion, the recommanded starting dosage is 1ml per 4g of water) daily, 10ml in the morning and 10ml at night. my parameters are:

 

pH: 8.3-8.4

alk: 8 - 9dkh

cal: 380 - 390ppm

 

as you can see, they aren't that good. i use IO and i do 10% water change weekly. you can read my story here:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...threadid=612347

 

personally, i have a derasa (photo in my gallery) for a few months and it grows very fast. it's the fastest growing critter (besides the porite coral) in the tank. it will not, however, out grow my tank any time soon because i don't have the LR wall that takes up 60% of tank space. good luck.

[Caesar777]

Get the parameters up to par, and be able to keep them steady for an extended period of time, before you even consider SPS or clams. They're pretty sensitive. After you have the calcium and alk down, keep in mind what the above posters have mentioned: Croceas MUST have metal halide lighting; no amount of watts from fluorescent lighting will be POTENT enough. Remember, 100 watts of MH is NOT the same as 100 watts of PC. Maximas have been kept successfully under PCs, but keep a close eye on it. If it gapes too far, it needs more light. Derasas are great for PCs, but they grow quite large rather quickly. Also, keep in mind that water parameters are especially difficult to keep steady in such a small tank. Keep up with the research.

[BoBoSkater]

Originally posted by dzhuo

boy, posts are great when they just say "yes" or "no" and don't offer a reason why.

 

completely agree.

 

I just put some buffer in twice a week to keep my cal and alk levels up

 

is it really that easy? what buffer do you use? how much do you add each time and what animals are you keeping with? what salt are you using? i am really interested to find out becuase you are doing much better than i am! i have been adding b-ionic 2 parts for several months now and my alk/cal can barely keep up. my tank is 10g and i add 20ml (just for comparsion, the recommanded starting dosage is 1ml per 4g of water) daily, 10ml in the morning and 10ml at night. my parameters are:

 

pH: 8.3-8.4

alk: 8 - 9dkh

cal: 380 - 390ppm

 

I use aragaMILK calcium & buffer and Kent MARINE superbuffer-dKH. I put 15 drops of aragaMILK once a week and one tea spoon of KENT MARINE once a week. The salt that I use is called Oceanic Nautrual Sea Salt mix the good thing about that is the salt already has all the right parameters in it

My parameter are:

 

pH-8.3

alk-12dKH

cal-530

 

this was two nights ago last time I checked

[onthefly]

Once a tank matures (key phrase!) and you set you parameters.......keeping it stable becomes much easier.

 

My 5.5 has 18 SPS colonies in it....I add 5ml part 1 and part 2 every other day.

 

Ca 425-440

Alk 8.0 (where I want it!)

pH 8.2

Mg 1250

[Undertheradar]

I clam in a small tank can be a problem in itself. W/O halides, the best choices would be a squamosa or deresa...but they also grow faster and bigger. They are also calcium whores. In such a small tank you can actually see a drop in your calcium on a daily basis before you dose. You will want to dose kalk. I wouldnt do it in such a small tank again...I did 6 croceas in a 10g with a 250watt halide...I had to dose calcium (kalk) like a madman.

[bonecrusher71]

Hey on the fly you have sps in a 5.5 and 18 colonies?

thats kick @$$ what light are you using?

want to start a sps reef in 55g.

[Kogut]

Bobo, I used Oceanic and a lot of people used to use Oceanic. Problem w/ it is that it can cause algae blooms like no other.

 

As for the actual topic... Wait several months. Make sure your parameters are stable. Add a deresa. BUT! A small calm I do love the amount of water that gets filtered by big clams, though.

[onthefly]

Way too much work for me (feeding, Ca, alk, w/c's, etc.).....thus I opt'd to not put a clam in my 5.5!!!

 

Bone - I'm running a 70W 10K Ushio MH and 26W Ac03 PC. The 5.5 will be a goner by this weekend --> 20L is Born!

[bonecrusher71]

Hey onthefly just bought 2 MH 250w for my 55g SPS will post pictures

When i get a chance there both aqua medic lamps.

[onthefly]

Nice......I'm so stoked with mine!!!