Is my nano tanks light actually strong enough for a Crocea clam?

[D&D Fishery]

Hello everyone, before I explain my question, let me give you a little bit of background. I am an experienced freshwater fish keeper with 30 years in the hobby. I currently run a local fish breeding business with my father, breeding and selling freshwater catfish, and propagating and selling freshwater plants and shrimp. I understand the science behind tanks and have a background in biology. In the past I had one saltwater reef tank and recently to get back into reefing after being out of the game for 15 years. I currently have a fluval Evo, 13.5 gallon set up as a mixed reef with some LPS and soft coral. The main reason I set up this tank was to have a crocea clam and I have just added one. I Understand they can be temperamental however, I had luck with them in the past in my last tank. I am currently running the stock LED light on the fluval evo had intended on, upgrading it for a AI blade which I know is brighter soon after getting the clam. After doing some research I found a thread where someone took a par meter and tested the stock light. In mid range of the reef the light was giving 200+ par based on the persons measures. I currently have the clam about 3/4 of the way up from the surface in the rock work. The clam has been in the tank for 3 days, it is about 2 inches in length (I dose phytoplankton daily for the copepods colony for my mandarin and now the clam). The clam shifted its angle slightly on the rock cradle I built for it out for purple frag rock but after the first night It already attached and has been opened daily looking very happy. The clam appears happy and content. So my question is should I upgrade the light? Or let it be and watch the clam to see how it does? Right now he appears to be very happy with the light and flow after he mad his adjustment.

 

[BairCorals]

I'd run the stock light and see how it goes, anything weird happens and I'd throw the blade on and creep it up. I have a blade and can say i absolutely love the light. And on a shallow tank like the evo I think it'd be more than enough.

 

[Narideth]

I'm rooting for you and your clam! I'm wanting to put a Crocea clam in my evo and the PAR requirements listed are all over the place from 200+ to 500+ probably because it may be different for each clam, each tank, each setup.

I did upgrade my lights but that was before I figured out I wanted a clam. The stock lights are surprisingly efficient and pack a good punch of light.

I'd love to see a picture of your new baby clam.

 

[D&D Fishery]

I'm rooting for you and your clam! I'm wanting to put a Crocea clam in my evo and the PAR requirements listed are all over the place from 200+ to 500+ probably because it may be different for each clam, each tank, each setup.

I did upgrade my lights but that was before I figured out I wanted a clam. The stock lights are surprisingly efficient and pack a good punch of light.

I'd love to see a picture of your new baby clam.

The photo doesn’t do it justice the blue speckles are electric neon blue. The base color of the mantle is a dark purple, and the central portion of the mantle is a neon almost emerald like green. And from what I hear patterns can grow to be much more intricate as they grow larger overtime.

 

[D&D Fishery]

I'd run the stock light and see how it goes, anything weird happens and I'd throw the blade on and creep it up. I have a blade and can say i absolutely love the light. And on a shallow tank like the evo I think it'd be more than enough.

Currently, I am fighting with fluval because the stock light has been doing this thing where it randomly switches to just the blue lights and I have to switch it back. It’s really random when it happens so I tried getting a new light under the warranty. But they want me to cut the cord of this light at the base of the light so that way it is impossible to fake a photo and take a picture of it and send it to them before they will send out a new light and they say the light could take 2 to 3 days Before I receive it. I’m sorry, but that is way too long to have no light on my tank and that is if everything goes as planned so at this point, I may just end up buying the AI blade in the next few weeks anyways.

 

[Narideth]

The photo doesn’t do it justice the blue speckles are electric neon blue. The base color of the mantle is a dark purple, and the central portion of the mantle is a neon almost emerald like green. And from what I hear patterns can grow to be much more intricate as they grow larger overtime.

Oooh I'm so jelly! It's beautiful, I hope it goes well.

 

[BairCorals]

Currently, I am fighting with fluval because the stock light has been doing this thing where it randomly switches to just the blue lights and I have to switch it back. It’s really random when it happens so I tried getting a new light under the warranty. But they want me to cut the cord of this light at the base of the light so that way it is impossible to fake a photo and take a picture of it and send it to them before they will send out a new light and they say the light could take 2 to 3 days Before I receive it. I’m sorry, but that is way too long to have no light on my tank and that is if everything goes as planned so at this point, I may just end up buying the AI blade in the next few weeks anyways

Dang that's intense. Have you made sure It isn't set to like a moonlight cycle or something? And ai blade is pretty sweet. Really enjoy mine

 

[D&D Fishery]

Dang that's intense. Have you made sure It isn't set to like a moonlight cycle or something? And ai blade is pretty sweet. Really enjoy mine

its either daylight or moon light so basically the light will turn on and be on day mode and then it will randomly just switch to moonlight mode on its own And then Ihaveto hit the button and put it back to daylight mode.

 

[BairCorals]

its either daylight or moon light so basically the light will turn on and be on day mode and then it will randomly just switch to moonlight mode on its own And then Ihaveto hit the button and put it back to daylight mode.

Yeah I'd say screw that light and get the blade then. Doubt the moonlight is powerful enough to support coral life and can't have that randomly changing while at work or whatever

 

[Derrick0580]

The stock light on my evo lasted all of 6 days. Petco said to call fluval, fluval said to call petco…so I binned it and bought an ai prime! Needless to say I don’t own any more fluval products.

 

[BairCorals]

The stock light on my evo lasted all of 6 days. Petco said to call fluval, fluval said to call petco…so I binned it and bought an ai prime! Needless to say I don’t own any more fluval products.

So crazy, I've got 7 freshwater tanks with fluval lights and they've ran no problems for 2 years straight. Maybe just something in that evo light that's no good. But can't go wrong with ai! Been thinking about getting some primes for extra light on my 60gal when I get some more demanding corals. Just running a 48in ai blade grow which is doing fine for what I have growing now.

 

[Narideth]

I still have the original fluval light. I ran it on the tank for a few months without any problems, and I use it now as the grow light for my phytoplankton cultures.

I have heard that it happens though, unfortunate really.

 

[JoJosReef]

Crocea will look amazing until it suddenly dies. Most important is to watch the shell for new growth under the mantle. If you don't see bright white new growth, it is starving.

I don't think the stock Fluval light will provide the light it needs. PAR is only part of the equation. Photosynthetically Useable Radiation (PUR) is important. If much of the PAR from the stock light is between optimal spectra for the clam's zoanthellae, then it effectively gets less than the PAR you're measuring.

Are you planning to use a bar light like the AI Blade? Or also open to puck lights like the AI Prime 16HD and Noopsyche K7 mini? I think you will do best maximizing the power of the AI Prime--my first crocea didn't get enough PAR under a Prime at ~70-80% intensity and died. The K7 mini can hit 300+ PAR pretty easily in an Evo and most of that is useable spectra. I'm not yet familiar with the AI Blades.

I recommend reading the book on Tridacna clams by James Fatheree. It's quite good and reveals a lot about the way these clams survive and thrive.

 

[D&D Fishery]

So crazy, I've got 7 freshwater tanks with fluval lights and they've ran no problems for 2 years straight. Maybe just something in that evo light that's no good. But can't go wrong with ai! Been thinking about getting some primes for extra light on my 60gal when I get some more demanding corals. Just running a 48in ai blade grow which is doing fine for what I have growing now.

Yeah i actually have been keeping freshwater for 30 years and even have a business (same title as my profile name) breeding and selling freshwater bristle-nose plecos, freshwater shrimp and plants. I run a ton of fluval lights and have never had issues with their freshwater products.

 

[D&D Fishery]

Crocea will look amazing until it suddenly dies. Most important is to watch the shell for new growth under the mantle. If you don't see bright white new growth, it is starving.

I don't think the stock Fluval light will provide the light it needs. PAR is only part of the equation. Photosynthetically Useable Radiation (PUR) is important. If much of the PAR from the stock light is between optimal spectra for the clam's zoanthellae, then it effectively gets less than the PAR you're measuring.

Are you planning to use a bar light like the AI Blade? Or also open to puck lights like the AI Prime 16HD and Noopsyche K7 mini? I think you will do best maximizing the power of the AI Prime--my first crocea didn't get enough PAR under a Prime at ~70-80% intensity and died. The K7 mini can hit 300+ PAR pretty easily in an Evo and most of that is useable spectra. I'm not yet familiar with the AI Blades.

I recommend reading the book on Tridacna clams by James Fatheree. It's quite good and reveals a lot about the way these clams survive and thrive.

I will check out the book. Thus far the clam appears to be doing great. I dose phyto daily. I also found par ratings for the stock why and right where I have him was rated at about 200 to 250 par for that level. I watched another video that did par ratings on the AI blade and 100% intensity. It was throwing out upwards of 500 when kept directly across the tank, using the stock mount that it comes with, so I think the blade would be a good fit for this tank and would provide plenty of light for the clam which already appears to be doing excellent I am also measuring my calcium and keeping track of that as well. Thank you for the advice. I have kept them successfully before in the past , but back in that day I had a metal halide light although it was on a 20 gallon extra tall tank, which was essentially 210 gallons stacked on top of each other so the clam was lower in the tank and probably was not getting anywhere near the amount of par that it would have at the top. But it still did well.

 

[August]

I have been keeping a clam for a while now, and I read somewhere that the size of the clam makes a difference between how much par it may need, particularly that smaller clams need more par than larger clams. If you have a par meter, then I would just go with that instead of guessing what your par is at for the location where the clam attached. Knowing what the regular par is for the location will if nothing else, give you valuable data on what led to the thriving, or the death of the clam. You really won't know if it is happy for a few months and with the growth lines someone else was speaking about. You can only really discern if something is agitating it from just a 'quick' 5-10 minute observation.