18 maxima clams in my tank
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OP
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Miami Reef
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I’m not the right guy for this question. I got most of them from my LFS. I think most might be wild caught, but I could be wrong. They all came with white, sterile shells, almost like they never saw the light of day.
I consider these clams “rescues“ because they always seem to die and gape at my LFS overtime. Probably from lack of light. The stores don’t have the magic touch. These clams need strong light.
I actually don’t QT. I just inspect the bottom and make sure there aren’t any snails. I had to do a freshwater dip twice throughout the years for PMD, and it was effective. I never dealt with parasitic snails though. If I saw parasitic snails, I wouldn’t add them without QT.
I think the hardest part is getting the clams to attach in time. They love to fall. I learned to make epoxy cradles from AquaStik Epoxy: That’s the best epoxy. It’s very soft and pliable.
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Miami Reef
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I’m pretty sure they are all maxima clams.
Kasrift
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Very beautiful. I only have a 32 gallon right now, got my crocea clam last year from Reefapalooza California from Clam Mania. When I upgrade though I want to grab a maxima and a derasa as well .
Very Nice. I'm approaching the one year mark on my derasa and 9 months on my maxima and they are thriving. The derasa has probably more than doubled in size. I failed miserably with these creatures before I purchased a par meter 
My water isn't super clean, NO3 15-20 and PO4 0.4 -0.6 but they don't seem to mind at all.
My water isn't super clean, NO3 15-20 and PO4 0.4 -0.6 but they don't seem to mind at all.
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About 1dKH a day. Not much because many of my clams are small to medium, and all my acropora are still frag sized.
I am dosing sodium hydroxide (same alkalinity concentration as the soda ash recipe) 283g Sodium Hydroxide in 1 gallon as a solution.
500g Calcium Chloride in 1 gallon solution as a calcium solution
182g Tropic Marin balling part C per gallon solution for ionic balance
Currently dosing about 120mL/day of each solution with my BRS 1.1mL/min pumps.
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Miami Reef
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I’ll test this tonight. I’m having issues with my Goniopora, so I need to test how much par they’re getting. It should be about 400 par for the clams on top.
drolmaeye
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What PAR do you measure now that corresponds to success with clams? I am definitely wanting to get one myself, but want to make sure I am giving them what's required.Very Nice. I'm approaching the one year mark on my derasa and 9 months on my maxima and they are thriving. The derasa has probably more than doubled in size. I failed miserably with these creatures before I purchased a par meter
My derasa approaching 1 year and more than doubled in size sitting under 300 par. My maxima about 9 months is is under 350+ I don't think you can really give clams too much light but I have corals I have to consider so I can't go over board. I'd love to try one in my SPS tank that gets a ton of light but am afraid my CBB or flame angel might find the tasty.
minus9
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Each clam will be different, so it’s hard to give specific numbers, but for the larger species (gigas, derasa & squamosa) starting in the mid 200’s + would be the minimum and 300 - 350 + or more for maxima and crocea would be their minimum. But I would make sure that you can provide 400+ micro moles no matter what clam you’re keeping. If you’re not seeing new shell growth, then you simply need more light, what that number is will be completely dependent on that individual clam. Intensity is one thing, but duration is another fact so well.
In the meantime, if you haven’t picked up James Fatherree’s book on clams already, I would invest in that book, tons of great information on keeping clams.
LagoonReefLife
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They maybe getting too much light. Gonis only require around 60-90 PAR for growth, anything more won't really affect growth. They can handle higher light like that but will need a long time to adjust high light intensity.
I'd try moving them to a shadier spot with a good amount of medium flow.
Also check your trace elements, Gonis will deplete Manganese, malibadmon and other trace elements much quicker than other corals. They like a little bit of iron as well, but be careful it's easy to over do and get an algae bloom.
Once I got my trace elements stable my Gonis have been pretty easy going care wise.
