20L w/clams and mandarine

[Kogo]

just thaught id share some pics of the T. crocea ive had under VHO's for the last year

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/kogo/Picture189.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/kogo/Picture188.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/kogo/Picture204.jpg

these clams are kept in a 20L with a 10g refugium. the tank is lit with 2 75w URI VHO's (1 10k & 1 actinic) on a 220ARO ballast. there is no direct feeding of the clams and minimal feedings (.. last feeding was in november) of the other corals. i do water changes (every few weeks... weekly if i have time) with NSW and topoff with RO.

the only fish inside are a black cap basselet and a manderine (ive had the mandarine for 18months now) which recieve no direct feedings at all.

heres a shot of the mandarine through the side glass


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/kogo/Picture209.jpg

questions, comments, and flames welcome.

[jamynsdad]

nice tank. where in so. florida?

[Kogo]

ft lauderdale

[sophia101]

Nice Tank :) I love the mandarin..what is it eating? Mostly, people say dont put them in nanos, but some people have kept them successfully so I am not so sure about that.

[Kogo]

i dont feed it at all. between the fuge and the liverock all food is supplied.

my thaughts on being succesfull with mandarines is to find the smallest one possible and eliminate any compition for pods and remove any bully fish that prevent the mandarine from "grazing" for pods.

so basicly the mandarine should be the boss of the tank

[sophia101]

Very Cool! I have always love Mandarins...congrats :D

[Doglover_50]

between tank and fuge how many pounds of live rock?

[Kogo]

i never weighed the total, but i would guesstimate it at about 20 -25lbs.

a couple handfulls of rubble, 1" of sand, and chatomorpha in the fuge.

[Doglover_50]

I guess that plus the fuge for the pods to have a safe playground must be enough.

No judgement here, but I'm really surprised to hear your clams are doing okay without feeding. Maybe you do this, but do you "feed" the tank calcium? My clams suck my tank dry of calcium, and I've some some precipitous drops where it went under 300. More power to you, though!

[Kogo]

using natural salt water is real helpfull as well. there is likely trace amounts of plankton in the water for the clams to filter out.

as for calcium, ive come to believe that as long as my clams are growing, there is plenty of calcium. if calcium isnt at the mega levels we tend to recomend then the clams will just compete with other organisms for it. in the end, the only side effect seems to be that i dont spend time scrapeing coraline algea of my glass.

[Jimsmowen]

Your tank is great man!!

Looks very purple though, sure you dont have 18k bulbs????

[Kogo]

the uri super actinics have a very deep color.

[Kogo]

shameless bump