New Maxima clam not opening fully. Getting adjusted to new light?

[Madison Reef]

I got a clam 4 days ago on May 27th.
It was placed on the bottom of the tank receiving small amount of light from black box light.
Its foot attached to frag tile 2 days after, so I moved it up and I set up 150watt double ended metal halide to provide it with more light.
It's been 2 days and ever since I moved it, it has not opened fully, but it's still reacting fast to light shade.

Is it adjusting to new light? Should I put away metal halide and place the clam on the bottom of the tank again?

Please advise me.
Thank you.

 

[Saltyreef]

I think it was a poor decision to put supplimental lighting on it after it just acclamated to the blackbox light at the bottom of your tank.

I would place it back in the sand and put the MH light back in the closet.

The way lighting acclamation works is it needs to be consistant day to day so the specimen gets used to it.
Once the lighting intensity and color is set....you should forget your lights are even adjustable.

 

[exnisstech]

Maxima will probably need more than what a Blackbox can delver on the sand bed but light acclimation needs to be slower.
I agree with @Saltyreef as far as moving it back down and starting acclimation over. If you can't dim the lights you could gradually move it up and even use eggcrate to reduce the light it receives.
For years I could not keep clams alive. I finally invested in a par meter and now I know why. I was starving them even tho the lights looked bright to me.
Par meter is hands down the most valuable piece of equipment I have purchased for this hobby.

 

[Saltyreef]

Maxima will probably need more than what a Blackbox can delver on the sand bed but light acclimation needs to be slower.
I agree with @Saltyreef as far as moving it back down and starting acclimation over. If you can't dim the lights you could gradually move it up and even use eggcrate to reduce the light it receives.
For years I could not keep clams alive. I finally invested in a par meter and now I know why. I was starving them even tho the lights looked bright to me.
Par meter is hands down the most valuable piece of equipment I have purchased for this hobby.

I wonder what fixture wattage and intensity is being utilized on the blackbox.

 

[RobW]

I got a clam 4 days ago on May 27th.
It was placed on the bottom of the tank receiving small amount of light from black box light.
Its foot attached to frag tile 2 days after, so I moved it up and I set up 150watt double ended metal halide to provide it with more light.
It's been 2 days and ever since I moved it, it has not opened fully, but it's still reacting fast to light shade.

Is it adjusting to new light? Should I put away metal halide and place the clam on the bottom of the tank again?

Please advise me.
Thank you.

In my experience with clams, which is not a ton, I've found that when I put them in my tanks I've dialed back the intensity of the light a bit and let it come back up over the course of 2-3 weeks. I place them once and then I don't mess with them.

 

[exnisstech]

I wonder what fixture wattage and intensity is being utilized on the blackbox.

Good question, there are so many different versions out there with some being quite good actually.
I only have one maxima and one derasa. Have only had the derasa 6 months and the maxima 3 months so I have limited experience but they are healthy and showing good growth. I have much more experience killing them The derasa is under about 300 par and the maxima upwards of 400.

 

[Madison Reef]

I wonder what fixture wattage and intensity is being utilized on the blackbox.

I am not sure what brand it is as I was given when I bought used setup, but I assume it to be general blackbox 165watt. I will try to look it up one I get back home and report back. Its intensity is set to be 50 percent for 8 hours, but its hung way above from the tank, thus metal halide was set up.

I think it was a poor decision to put supplimental lighting on it after it just acclamated to the blackbox light at the bottom of your tank.

I would place it back in the sand and put the MH light back in the closet.

The way lighting acclamation works is it needs to be consistant day to day so the specimen gets used to it.
Once the lighting intensity and color is set....you should forget your lights are even adjustable.

Would it be safe to move the clam to the bottom again with metal halide on?

Maxima will probably need more than what a Blackbox can delver on the sand bed but light acclimation needs to be slower.
I agree with @Saltyreef as far as moving it back down and starting acclimation over. If you can't dim the lights you could gradually move it up and even use eggcrate to reduce the light it receives.
For years I could not keep clams alive. I finally invested in a par meter and now I know why. I was starving them even tho the lights looked bright to me.
Par meter is hands down the most valuable piece of equipment I have purchased for this hobby.

I agree with with you that the blackbox is not enough to give it an appropriate amount of light and I do not have par meter with me.
Would it be safe to keep the metal halide and move the clam to the bottom of the tank and slowly move it up towards the surface?

 

[Saltyreef]

Why not turn the intensity of your LED fixture up first?

Yes you can leave the MH in place if thats your goal moving forward just move the clam back down and slowly move up over a few weeks.

 

[Madison Reef]

Why not turn the intensity of your LED fixture up first?

Yes you can leave the MH in place if thats your goal moving forward just move the clam back down and slowly move up over a few weeks.

Although I do not have a par meter, I believe that black box LED is not enough to provide enough light.
I did move the clam to the bottom as you suggested and keep MH.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Saltyreef]

You only had it at 50% though so how do you figure its still not enough light without trying?

Might be worth the energy savings to atleast try.

 

[OrionN]

I actually don’t acclimate my clams to light. I just put them where they get appropriate amount of light for them.
Under bright light clams do not hyperextended like in poor light. However your clam is sick. I would look for things other than light as cause for it not to expand.

 

[MartinM]

I actually don’t acclimate my clams to light. I just put them where they get appropriate amount of light for them.
Under bright light clams do not hyperextended like in poor light. However your clam is sick. I would look for things other than light as cause for it not to expand.

100%

All clams are farmed in direct sunlight (thousands of PAR+). You cannot realistically give them too much light in an aquarium. But yes something else is affecting that clam, check your water parameters and/or harassment from a tank mate.