Will most Clams thrive the best under 250w or 400w mh lighti

[Circa]

I am analizing my lighting right now and I want to get some mh lights for clams. I will want to keep a nice variety of clams in the tank but I want to know what is a better wattage to go with. I am thinking that 400w would be the best but the problem is the heat and water evaporation, can I get away with 250w? If there are any clam owners out their that can comment on this plz do.

Thanks,
Circa

 

[Anonymous]

hi.
It depends on variety of clam. So clam don't need any light. T. crocea need the most, IME. If you have 250 W, T. crocea should be OK if you let it attach to a rock high up and near the bulb, about 1 to 2 feet away.

 

[Circa]

Ok what about maximas?

So it sounds like I could get away with 250w, but is this really the right choice? I am wondering if their will be better colours in a clam comming from a 400w bulb vs a 250w bulb. Also I want to keep sps too, so that is something to keep in mind.

 

[Cory]

Clams need lots of light, if you run 250's you should be ok if you tank is less that 20 inches deep. 24 or deeper should have 400W. Also you need one bulb for every 24 inches of tank witdth. You can keep clams up higher in tank on rock work but be sure to have a stable area for them and allow them room to open and close. They also will move to position themselves for optium water flow. Personally I would only keep clams on my sand bed bescause of this alone. My clam has moved as far as 3 inches and rotated 180 deg. in one night.

 

[chris_h]

You have to say how big your tanks is. A 250 might kill a clam in a ten gallon tank.

 

[sparks]

I have a T Maxima (Blue)under a 150 watt Venture Coral Lux 10000k MH ( 3/150 total over my 6x2x2)for almost 12 months now

, he looks great and has been in the middle and on the bottom of my 6x2x2 for all that time, i think we can sometimes get too carried away with huge wattages.
Here in OZ 150 watt MH's are most common as we have little access to 250 or 400 watters.

 

[Sue Truett]

Circa, I have 2 T. crocea's under 3 250w 65k iwasaki's in my 180. Both are on a ledge about half way up in the tank. One is growing at alarming rates. I also have a T. maxima on this same ledge. It is doing great also. There is a T. squamosa on the sand bed. In my 120g. I have 2 400w 65k iwasaki's and have on the sand bed, 1 T. derasa, 3 T. maxima's. All these clams have been in these tanks under this lighting for some time. They are fully extening their mantle and growing good shell. You can surely IMO, go with 250w MH's although iwasaki's would give you more bang for the buck. JME. HTH...

my 180 ecosystem sps tank:
http://berlinmethod.com/suet/
my 120 ecosystem sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
www.marshreef.org/members

 

[MiNdErAsR]

A quote from Daniel Knop's book, Giant Clams, Chapter 6. Keeping Clams in the Aquarium, subsection Illumination (p. 131)...
I recommend metal halide "TS" lamps of 250 Watt (Osram TS 250W/D) and tube shaped lamps with the socket E 27 or E40 (Osram T 250W/D)...250 Watt are used for tanks 60cm high, 400 Watt with tanks of 80 cm, and 1000 Watt with tanks of 100 cm water column.

 

[Iron]

watts to the tank doesn't mean a thing= 250w or 400w. Placement does. 24" tall tank 12" tall tank. If the clam is 10" away from the light= doesn't matter how tall the tank is. 250w ime will be fine for most clams. Put them higher if you need to. 400w makes it so you can keep them on the bottom.

 

[reefaquariumsecrets]

[ December 01, 2001: Message edited by: reefaquariumsecrets ]</p>

 

[Starmstr]

I have both 250 and 400 mh 2 out of 3 clams prefer the 400