Lighting for Gigas

[Anonymous]

Would a T. Gigas be okay under 225 watts of VHO lighting in a 38G tank? The sand bed is 18" lower than the bulbs.

I know the Gigas is going to quickly outgrow the 38. My problem is that he has used up all of his alloted space in my 75. I bought him thinking I would have my 300 up and running by now, but that has not happened. I want to keep him and not trade him in at the LFS if I don't have too. I am quite sure he would not outgrow the the 38 before the 300 is done. I would pretty much dedicate all the space to him. I only have one fish and a peppermint shrimp there now. And some live rock, a few shrooms, polyps, monti frags. I could get rid of anything that gets in the way of the Gigas.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

if you keep him middle to upper tank..I have no real experience but i imagine at worst it keep it at a slower growth rate while under the VHO lighting...This way you can definitely finish the 300g project...you can always get rid of the SPS frags to me if you feel so inclined

 

[Anonymous]

T.Gigas should be on the sandbed. That is where they are in the wild. I think maxima's and corcea's do well on rocks.

I think I'll keep my SPS frags , but thanks for the offer to take them off my hands .

Louey

 

[da colts1]

gigas come from turbid waters so their lighting needs are not as great as the crocea. the sand bed will fine for them. here is a pic of my new crocea i got on sat.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice crocea.

I am leaning toward going ahead and moving him into the 38G. I'll replace the lamps first as I am sure they are a year old by now. If I don't notice new shell growth after a month, I will reconsider what to do with him.

Louey

 

[npaden]

Louey,

I've had a gigas and a crocea on the sandbed of my 40 gallon office tank (40 breeder - 16" Tall) for over a month now and both seem to be doing fine.

I'm running 4 - 39W T5's with the TEK reflectors on it. The gigas has added about 1/4" of shell since it was added.

Those reflectors do alot for the T5's - you might look into some reflectors for your VHO's.

HTH, Nathan

PS - da colts - if you resize your pic to something reasonable it will make this thread alot easier to read.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree sandbed would be the best place for it, i only suggested it being placed higher if it needed more intense lighting..It only sounded like a temporary placement anyways...I imagine if Nathan is having fair amount of success under T-5 lighting, you outta have no problems under VHO

 

[npaden]

Just to add my opinion that T5 lighting with the TEK reflectors is stronger than VHO lighting. Probably not a tremendous amount but just looking at them side by side the T5 seems considerably brighter.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[Anonymous]

looks can be deceiving ... ill take your word for though

 

[Johnsteph10]

most gigas come from seagrass/muddy areas with significantly less par reaching them than other giant clams...it should be ok -- 14-16 inches from the surface. Low/mod. flow. make sure it is stable in the tank as its thread is probably atrophied/absent by now as they don't really depend on it after gaining some size...

that's all my knowledge.

my brain is now empty.

doesn't feel a while lot different!

john

 

[Len]

I've measured the T5s with my Apogee. They indeed throw out more light then any T12 bulbs (VHO inc.)

 

[Anonymous]

As indicated above, gigas will do fine with lower light than most other tridacna.
However, they don't mind more instense light, to a degree. Mine is under 250W DE HQI's, about 20" under the water and growing like a weed.

Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Well, it sounds like the change in lighting won't hurt my Gigas. Maybe it will slow it's growth down a bit, which isn't all bad, until I can get the 300 done.

I won't be able to move him until August 1st, because I will be out of town until then. Hopefully he doesn't grow himself into trouble in that span of time.

 

[srbayless]

Howdy,

Hey Da Colts, where did you pick up that clam? Online or local retailer?

Peace,

Scott.