Too Soon For A Clam?

[Anguilla82]

Hi all,

was just wonderring whether my tank would be stable enough for a maxima clam yet?
have just been looking at some on the coral culture website that are just amazing!

new tank is around 1 month old, however half of the live rock was from a mature reef, and the other half was from my 18 month old nano.
water stats are all good and am running a 400w MH with a 10,000k bulb.

Rob

 

[humpy_the_humphead_wrasse]

i would say leave it go a few months probably to 6 or 8 months. sounds inconveniant i know but over the next few months youll be honing ur skills to keep a truely stable system and mistakes may be made but once youve got that time under ur belt and got it totally down pact then i would say go for it. dont want to loose a super expensive beautiful clown. itll devo u straight away. but then again u may be successful so kinda up to u is my philosophy

 

[ben1987]

also depends on the size of clam mate. Smaller ones filter feed a lot more.
Id leave it a couple of months, im sure you have the skills to keep it alive. i just wouldnt risk the money yet.

 

[SkiFletch]

I guess I'll buck the trend and ask a question instead. Since I know you're not a novice aquarist Rob, have you settled on a method for monitoring and replacing calcium/alkalinity/magnesium? If so, and you're confident with keeping those levels at a reasonable level, then I'd say go for it. Clams are relatively tolerant of out-of-range chemistry, are exceptionally heat-tolerant, and once established are pretty hardy. Their biggest drawbacks are light (solved in your case with a 400watt halide), aggression (they're pretty vulnerable to possible nippers and some blenny species), and disease (pyramellid snails are a royal PITA).

Just be prepared, they do chew up significant calc/alk especially

Edit: and make sure to give yourself the best chance for success by getting one with a shell length of around 4"

 

[Anguilla82]

cheers everyone.

as for monitoring calcium levels. currently i'm just using the salifert test kits, and all seems good, even with all the LPS and SPS i have.
i am continuing to do weekly water changes and will monitor the uptake. so far i've never needed to add any supliments.

do clams really make that big a impact on the calc levels?

if so then i guess i should be looking at getting a reactor?
any other methods that i could employ?

are the smaller clams more difficult to maintain then?

sorry for all the questions, wanna get this right as getting clam was one of the main reasons for the 400w halide etc.

 

[Justin1989]

You do not need a calc reactor. I would say calc reactors are just a way of upping calc without as much maintenance. I could be WAY off on this, but that has been what I am getting from it. Many do does Ca+ however they say you just need to watch your perameters. Second, the PWC's are big on calcium.

 

[SkiFletch]

No, you don't need a calcium reactor, you can suppliment with calcium chloride, magnesium chloride/sulphate, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) if you like. They do pose a pretty significant impact to calcium and alkalinity though, and waterchanges will be much more expensive than dosing the above.

As for the size, when the shell length is still small the clam is a juvenile and therefore has an underdeveloped vascualr system. And it is in their vascular system that they house their symbiotic zooxanthellae that photosynthesize to give the coral it's energy. In Juveniles with undeveloped vasculature, their ability to photosynthesize is therefore diminished and requires LOTS of light. Baby clams are grown in open-air aquaculture facilities under sunlit pools that are shallow. Take a PAR meter out there and it'd be pegged off the scale at 10,000+... Put that same PAR meter just under the surface of the water centered under that 400watt halide of yours and you'd be lucky to get 500PAR out of it. Differences in multiple magnitudes, make sense?

However if you have a larger clam with a developed vasculature, the PAR requirements go down significantly. Around 200 for Maximas and Squamosas, maybe 100-150 for Croceas and probably 75-100 for Derasas which a 400 watt halide can definitely deliver at most any height in the water column.

 

[Anguilla82]

cheers ski!

as usual your knowledge of marines is incredible!