Benifit Of Large Clams
 

In my browsing it seems that a vast majority of tanks with great coloration and overall health have very large clams in them.

Is this a coincidence, or do large clams have something to offer that benifits our SPS systems?

Large clams need a lot of calcium intake and pristine water conditions, thus you see them thrive only in already great tanks.

SPS tank can usually handle a clam and vice versa, but there's no added benefit other than a hugely negligible amount of filtration feeding it does.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't clams also absorb nitrates?

yes they do but unless its a very large clam in a very small tank you wont notice anything

then if you have a vary large clam in a small sps tank the Ca will be sucked up in no time at all. thus you will have a vary hard time keeping it stable

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11125296#post11125296 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Corn [/i]
[B]then if you have a vary large clam in a small sps tank the Ca will be sucked up in no time at all. thus you will have a vary hard time keeping it stable [/B][/QUOTE]

i wasn't advocating doing that, i was trying to make a point that the amount of nitrogen clams uptake is not as much as some might think.

to get an idea of how much of an impact clams have on the nitrogen cycle read this link and figure out the ratio of clam biomass to water volume. you will see that it takes a whole lot of clam(s) to make an impact.

[url]http://www.spc.int/coastfish/News/Trochus/Trochus8/Trochus8-07.htm[/url]

Uh, yeah... I have an 8 derasa in a 30 Long (soon to be a 50breeder this weekend (the clam is going to a 75) and I am using 300ml of 2 part a day! I also have zero nitrates :)

I think someone had a HUGE "refugium" full of clams as their only filtration. Only when you have a huge ratio of clams per water volume will it actually help your filtration process.

sorry, I meant I have an 8 inch Derasa in a 20 long.

[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/148976No_place_like_home.jpg [/IMG]

I have 13 clams total in my 300 gal. reef ,3 of which are huge. Let me tell ya they really suck the calcium out of the tank. I'm actually thinking of selling my larger clams. I've been playing with this thought for a while now ,just harder to put it in print and post em for sale. I find the draw on calcium to be difficult to keep up with at times. Some old pics but you'll get the idea
Had this guy since it was about 4" ,now it's 14":eek2:
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/lotus02/clam1.jpg[/IMG]

Have 2 squamous they were about 7" when I got them now about 13"
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/lotus02/clam5.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/lotus02/clam2.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE]30 Long (soon to be a 50breeder this weekend (the clam is going to a 75) and I am using 300ml of 2 part a day![/QUOTE]

Don't you get huge alk/ph swings adding that much two part?

clams will work like a biological filter as long as a you have a good amount of them and there not small. 3inch min. There is a guy in CO that has one of the nicest sps tank i have seen and he has like 50 clams.

like mbbuna said, they do their job as biological filters, but really not enough to be significant.

I have a 24" gigas in my 300g. I don't think it does much for the tank except taking up a good chunk of prime reef real estate and making my Ca reactor work really hard. If he does any biological filtration, it's not noticable, IMO. He'll probably out grow my tank in a couple of years and I'll have to donate him to a public aquarium. BTW...he soaks up a good bit of Magnesium also....so watch your Mg if you have a huge clam.

Are all you guys shelling out $500 for these giant clams?

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/wentreefgirl/Tank%20pics/Picture007-1.jpg[/IMG]

but the clam is also dangerous for some angel fish, this is what happened to my friend... although he has kill the clam to save fish, but at last the fish has gone :-(

[IMG]http://www.reef-free.com/bbs/attachments/month_0707/20070707_16ca7fcc245615948b68OiWvd0nM9TaN.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.reef-free.com/bbs/attachments/month_0707/20070707_b77b072217cfe822b355ZIP631FIr22D.jpg[/IMG]

I'd like to see a picture of that 24" clam if you have one. How long have you had it for?

Oh~
Look like so hurt!

sjfishguy - no swings at all. PH climbs to about 8.3 during the day and falls to about 8.14 by the AM. It is dosed with a LM3 so I think it is dosed in very small amounts frequently and consumed at nearly the same rate it is added. My ALK rarely deviates from about 9.0 to 9.6. I do seem to need to dose some additional CA though to keep it level.

It is a misquided fact that clams require pristine water conditions to thrive. Clam farms dose large amounts of ammonium nitrate in the water to increase the growth rate of clams. It has been proven that clams can infact tolerate ammonia levels of 10ppm (braley, 1992).