Talk me out of it...

[fidojoe]

So now that my reef is actually growing and doing well, I want to give a clam a shot under my T5's. My SPS are all doing very well, so I think I have enough light to keep a clam.

I was thinking Derasa, since the Squammy's that are in my price range are all kind of blah looking, Derasa is the next best bet as far as being lower-light goes, according to something I read that Barry from Clams Direct posted.

If I don't get a bunch of responses telling me to not do it, where should I put it? Derasas are sand burrowers, right? For that matter, which are rock boring, which are sand? I know I have enough light at the bottom, since I found some orange digi thriving down there, and my mushrooms are all shriveled from too much light when they're not shaded.

 

[mps9506]

No exp with T5's here, so I'm gonna follow the thread, but I like derasa's, I think they look nice with the blue highlight around the rims and some of the striped patterns are very impressive looking. I've kept them under 150 DE halides before with no issues on the sandbed, but I still kept half a shell buried under the sand for them to attach too.

 

[fidojoe]

The burried shell is a good idea. Thanks!

 

[Witfull]

gigas, squamosa, and derasa are sand dwellers. maxima and crocea are rock borrowing. i would suggest squamosa due to size issues. derasa can easily get to 1ft and gigas to 2-4ft. squamies to appx 8+.

 

[cheeks69]

Don't see any issues unless your thinking of Maxima/Crocea...so I won't talk you out of it

 

[fidojoe]

Thanks for the input

I'm not overly concerned about size, since I know that I can find a home for it if need be, and my tank also has ample room for it to grow, and more can be made.

 

[fidojoe]

Oh, and since crocea and maximas are rock boring, is there a chance for one of them higher in my tank? I have a feeling that a crocea is a no on that, but maybe a maxima?

 

[Charlie97L]

if you had a 6 bulb fixture, i'd say so. honestly, though, if you have acros, that are doing well, you'd be fine with a crocea or maxima on the same vertical level, IMO.

now, if the SPS we're talking about is monti/digis, and stuff like that, maybe not.

the misleading thing about t5s and lower light stuff like mushrooms, is that t5s are an even light source, not a point source, which makes the light spread not natural, and harder for lower light stuff to deal with.

what kinda sps do you have? the *only* reason i'd be hesitant for a high light clam, is basically, you have 220w of light over a 90, which is kinda low, in terms of total output. on my 90, i'm going to have 2x250w MH, and 220w of VHO. that's almost 3x the wattage.

get back to us about the species of sps you've got and that'll be able to better direct our input.