Clams under T5

[Lord Sevein]

I have searched several different forums for information regarding clams and T5 lighting and most of what I have gotten was either disjunctive or "theory craft". In an effort to consolidate personal experiences with clams and T5 lighting I have created this thread.

In researching my lighting upgrade (going from FOWLR to Softie/LPS/ and ideally clam) I am having trouble deciding on a light fixture. I have little interest with sps corals, however I absolutely love clams! It’s the whole reason I'm upgrading my tank. However, I am worried about strong lighting (MH) bleaching the soft corals that I want to keep. (Not to mention the heat and hanging issues that are associated with metal halide lighting.) Furthermore, I am not even completely sure that keeping clams under T5 lighting is even possible (keeping in mind the health and well being of the animal).

I was wondering if anyone who has kept clams under T5's could share their experience with me. Specifically:

What was the size of your tank (dimensions)?
What fixture did you use?
Did it have individual reflectors?
What were the other inhabitants of the tank (coral or otherwise)?
Have you since changed your lighting to something "better"?
Do you have pictures?

Thank you for you help. Hopefully this will help others as well.

[markzfishn1]

Lord Sevein, All your lighting questions are answered in the sticky thread at the top of this page.

A4twenty, How do you post links to threads? I know you always post that sticky to answer these questions. I could help you out with this if I knew how to.

[kaserpick]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1072234

[markzfishn1]

after looking at kaserpick's reply I figured it out and feel pretty stupid for not figuring it out sooner.

[ezcompany]

lol

[Lord Sevein]

Originally posted by markzfishn1
Lord Sevein, All your lighting questions are answered in the sticky thread at the top of this page.

A4twenty, How do you post links to threads? I know you always post that sticky to answer these questions. I could help you out with this if I knew how to.

Thank you for trying to help but I believe you have misunderstood the intent of my post.

In my original post I specifically asked for people's experiences with keeping Tridacnid clams under T5 lighting. I have researched the topic for quite some time and have been aware of this sticky for most of it. I have found its contents to be quite useful in a general sense. However there is a slight deficiency (at least in what I was trying to address in my post) regarding how the information is presented. The thread states, "Most of the information here is based on personal experience and experiences shared by other fellow clam lovers." However, this thread does not list these individual experiences – T5 or otherwise – in and effort to give more general information for reefers with little to no experience keeping clams. In addition the lighting recommendations given are metal halide dominated. This fact suggests that the majority of "experiences" used to construct the thread have been with metal halide lighting. Again, I am looking for experiences with T5 lighting.

In an effort to hone the T5 lighting information of the thread above, I was attempting to construct a repository of sorts. I asked for people’s general experiences followed by several quick parameter questions. Any reefer (including myself) intending to keep clams under T5’s could have specific information regarding setup, product information, and tank inhabitants.

[RTKBA308]

Having T5's myself and interested in possibly keeping clams, I'd be interested in responses .

[fishes2889]

I have a clam in my tank. Its a crocea, but not the prettiest, my first at that.

The tank is a shallow 33g 48x12x12". With 4x54w worth of T5's, i have individual reflectors. The corals i keep are mostly zoo's, rics, some lps and a few sps frags. All do well and i have had good growth with the clam.

Heres a pic:

[Lord Sevein]

Originally posted by fishes2889

Beautiful tank fishes!

Have you ever had any issues with coral bleaching?

And what is that interesting coral in the lower left corner?

[jbittner]

Here are some of my clams under t5 (4x54 wt) in my 55.





The two pictured are just about to turn a year old.

[skinz78]

What was the size of your tank (dimensions)?
What fixture did you use?
Did it have individual reflectors?
What were the other inhabitants of the tank (coral or otherwise)?
Have you since changed your lighting to something "better"?
Do you have pictures?

Lord Sevein,
I have 4 crocea's 2 maxima's and 1 derasa

My clams are doing quite well under my t5, for example I have had my derasa for about 2 months now and it's shell has grown approximatly 3/8" overall in the time I have owned it.

My tank is a 75 g 48"long by 18" wide by 20" deep with a hang on refugium

I have a Tek t5 48" 6 bulb with individual reflectors.

As for coral I have some shrooms, xenia, zoo's, montipora, acropora, and many types of brain coral. My fish include: a sailfin tang, pajama cardialfish, lawnmower blenny, scooter blenny, clown gobie, maroon clownfish. and a few damsels.

I feel that the t5 light is just as good as a mh light. One plus of t5 is that it uses less electricity.

Sorry no pic's, I have read the pic posting threads and I still can't figure out how to post them. I can't convert my pic's from jpeg and make them smaller so it won't work for me.

[Lord Sevein]

Originally posted by jbittner
Here are some of my clams under t5 (4x54 wt) in my 55.



The two pictured are just about to turn a year old.

Nice clams bit! Those maximas?

Also, I should have added "What bulb combo are you using?" No matter . . . this is starting out to be an awesome source of information. Thanks for your contributions guys!

Oh and skinz, try uploading your photos to this site. It's always worked for me and it's free! Image Upload Then just use the "IMG" button above the edit window.

[skinz78]

ok lets see if this works, here are my crocea's!!

[Lord Sevein]

Originally posted by skinz78
ok lets see if this works, here are my crocea's!!

Beautiful clams sir! Glad the image worked too. Did you just use the address or did you copy the code into the image posting? The reason I as is that there seems to be a new icon on the upper right side of the page now lol!

[Lord Sevein]

Anyone else willing to step up to the plate?

[scubajsm]

I have a 55 (4ftx12in) with 2 T-5's (unable to fit 4 in canopy). Individual reflectors. One 8-9in Sqamosa, one 3-4in Derasa. Sqamosa I've had for almost a year with atleast 4 inches of new growth, Derasa I've only had for maybe since months and it's showing probably an inch of new growth. I haven't had any problems with the clams, and these are the only clams I've ever had. I have mushrooms,zenia,fungia,fungia,button polyps,green star polyps,frog spawn,hammer,zoas,porite,moti cap,canycane,yellow polyps,blasto,2 anenomes,featherdusters,2 clowns,3 shrimp,banghi,royal gramma,canary wrasse,large shrimp goby,snails,hemits,emerald. I had almost everything thing in here excluding the clams and a couple corals with just pc's for awhile before changing to the T-5's. I'm upgrading to a new tank, and I'm going with T-5's on it as well. I really like my lights, and so do my corals. I'm really impressed with how much my corals have grown (the need for the new tank ). I do have pics in my gallery, I do not know how to post them on here though. Hope this helps.

[WangoTANGo]

i also have a standard 55 gallon, and am running the aquactinics tx5 fixture (5x 54w bulbs, individually reflected). before i upgraded from VHO i had a crocea, which grew a lot, but the color faded a bit from when i first got it. after i upgraded to T5 the color is great, and now i have two croceas, each about midlevel and both are doing great. i havent taken any decent pics of my tank since like february, so maybe ill get on that.

-Justin

[Lord Sevein]

Thanks for the replies guys. Glad to see that others are having luck with clams and T-5 lighting.

Wango, what was your VHO situation before you upgraded to T-5? I've recently gotten wind of people keeping SPS and even clams under pure VHO lighting. hmmmm

scubajsm, I recently helped someone else post pictures on this thread. Look up a couple of posts and you'll find a link to a great little web site that will host your pictures. Upload each one there and copy the html. Then use that address with the "IMG" button in the posting window. Hope this helps!

[WangoTANGo]

i had 330w of VHO before, and i figured since it was getting good growth it was a good sign. i upgraded to T5 because my interest in sps grew, and i wanted to have better chances of keeping them.

-Justin

[mike89t]

Originally posted by Lord Sevein
I have searched several different forums for information regarding clams and T5 lighting and most of what I have gotten was either disjunctive or "theory craft". In an effort to consolidate personal experiences with clams and T5 lighting I have created this thread.

In researching my lighting upgrade (going from FOWLR to Softie/LPS/ and ideally clam) I am having trouble deciding on a light fixture. I have little interest with sps corals, however I absolutely love clams! It’s the whole reason I'm upgrading my tank. However, I am worried about strong lighting (MH) bleaching the soft corals that I want to keep. (Not to mention the heat and hanging issues that are associated with metal halide lighting.) Furthermore, I am not even completely sure that keeping clams under T5 lighting is even possible (keeping in mind the health and well being of the animal).

I was wondering if anyone who has kept clams under T5's could share their experience with me. Specifically:

What was the size of your tank (dimensions)?
What fixture did you use?
Did it have individual reflectors?
What were the other inhabitants of the tank (coral or otherwise)?
Have you since changed your lighting to something "better"?
Do you have pictures?

Thank you for you help. Hopefully this will help others as well.

I currently have two clams in my tank.

The first one is a Derasa sitting on the Sand bed about 20" down from the surface. I've had him for about a year. Was almost 3" when I first got him. Now he is about 5"!

I also have a Blue Crocea. He is about 6" under the water and was also about 3" when I got him about 8 months. Now is almost 4".

sorry I don't think have any photos.

What was the size of your tank (dimensions)?
150G 5'X2'x2'


What fixture did you use?
6 T5's running off of two Ice Cap 660s

Did it have individual reflectors?
yes

What were the other inhabitants of the tank (coral or otherwise)?
SPS, LPS and Zoos

Well I found an old photo that has my Derasa in it. Looking at that photo I'd say that it has since doubled in size. It's still in the same location:



Here is another photo from seven months ago but you can see the Derasa clam after 6 months in the tank has grown about an inch:

[Marcio]

Hi there!

My tank is 120x60x50cm with 8x54w of T5's into individual reflectors. Still dolnt have much coral but its going to be SPS and zoas tank. Here's a pic of my crocea clam, its about 2,5"

[Lord Sevein]

Wow guys, these are some nice clams!


Keep them coming!!!

[scapes]

What was the size of your tank (dimensions)? don't know dimensions but it's an 80g bow


What fixture did you use? the current nova 8x54w

Did it have individual reflectors? no

What were the other inhabitants of the tank (coral or otherwise)?
clams, xenia, mushrooms, rics, sps, cabbage coral, candy canes

Have you since changed your lighting to something "better"? no

Do you have pictures? not at the moment

I love my T5's. used to have 4 vho's and these are soooo much brighter. My aquarium will be 2 years old in oct, got this fixture at the beginning of May.

[mike89t]

Well I finally got around to taking a photo of my Derasa clam this morning. Here is a photo I took of it when I first got it about a year ago when it was about 3":



Here it is now and it is about 5":



He has been sitting on my 4" DSB under T5 lighting for the entire time.