Lighting Question

[garretsoccer2]

Hello all,
So I just bought a 29 gallon tank, stand and canopy from Charlie (thanks!) and it came with 2x65 watt power compact lights. I have another pc ballast that I thought I would hook up for a total of 4x65 watts (260 all together). Would this be sufficient light to house a clam in the tank? I have a 110 with plenty of room if this doesn't work out, but I would love to give it a shot. Any suggestions? If this will work, what temp combos should I do? 2x10,000K and 2xActinic is what I was thinking. Anyway I appreciate the help :)

Cheers,
-Garret

[roguemonk]

I'm no expert, but I thought an expert might like to know:

How deep is the tank, and what spectrum of light do you plan to use?

And what kind of clam?

My guess is the light would be sufficient for the most common answers (although I think actinic is less useful for supporting photosynthesis), but as I said, I'm no expert.

Brad "I think my PAR bit me! Is that possible?"

[garretsoccer2]

Tank is 18" deep and 30" long (standard 29), as for spectrum I don't know what I'm looking for yet, that's one thing I'm looking to have answered.

As for a clam as well, I'm not sure, just looking for advice at this point :)

[fishfanatic06]

Melev on reefcentral put 3x65 watt powercompacts over a 29 gallon and he successfully raised clams. His was on the sandbed.

[garretsoccer2]

Awesome, sounds good. What spectrum should I run with the 4 bulbs though?

[Clown-N-Around]

Check out www.clamsdirect.com for some expert opinions.

My personal non-expert opinion:
Can you do it? Yes. Would I do it? No. I don't feel comfortable putting clams under less than MH in my own tank because I don't feel they thrive, at least with Maxima or Crocea. You could go with Derasa or Squamosa which are less dependent on light.

[fishfanatic06]

Melev kept a maxima clam on his sandbed with 3x65 watt 50/50 bulbs. It looks happy to me. The 50/50 bulbs are pretty nice. Here is a picture of his tank.
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k89/fishfanatic2006/29g_051804_900.jpg
BTW, Do you still want the mushrooms? I sent you a pm about them.:)

[garretsoccer2]

Thats a nice looking tank :)

I sent you a reply PM btw Kyle

[jonthefb]

garret, i dont think that you would have any problems keeping a clam in that tank, with that amount of light as long as all the other water parameters were met (i.e. ammonia, nitrite, trate, phosphate, calcium, alk, etc) that tank is so shallow that you wont have any trouble getting light down to the clam.

keep in mind that if the clam is under 3 inches in length, that you will need to supplement it with phytoplankton, and that it will eventually get big, and that they suck up available calcium and alkalinity, so you will have to be dosing/testing for these often.

if you are still a little leery about getting a clam, start with a squamosa or derasa. these guys generally tend to do better under lower light situations, but be wary that they will both get big. They will eventually need a transplant into your 110, but would be fine for awhile.

As far as light configuration, i like to reccommend the current USA bulbs, if you are using square pin bulbs and would reccommend the dual daylight and dual actinic bulbs. the dual day bulb has a 6700K side and a 10,000K side, and the dual actinic has a 420nm side and a 460nm side, giving you an excellent assortment of color. I would use 2 of each!

hope this helps!
cheers~!
jon