[Chris Lakies]

Ok, sinse clams are one of my favorite reef creatures lets talk about em!

I'll start the scenario: I have a 45 gallon main aquarium with the dimensions of 24"x24"x18" and a sump that is holding approximatly 15 gallons of water. I currently have no fish but several different corals including SPS, Soft. I also have a 3 inch teardrop Maxima and a 7-8" Squamosa. I have very minimal live rock (about 25 pounds for my acro's to purch on). Still have about half the tank area of sand clear for clammies in front of the live rock to the glass (about a 24"Lx12"W area). I'm running a 250 watt HQI pendant and a My Reef skimmer MR-2 with a Mag 18 pump for gunk export (as of right now my skimmer does not pick up much becuase I have no fish load and I only feed Bio plankton a few times a week.

Clams need #1 strong lighting, #2 nutrients (Ammonia, Nitrate), #3 Good chemistry (Calcium, Alk etc.), #4 food Planktonics (Phyto etc.). To grow big and strong.

My question is, since Clams soak up amounts of the above things that a skimmer would get rid of....how big or many clams would I have to have before it would be feasible to get rid of a skimmer. Or what is your view point on this subject. Would clams grow better without a skimmer? How many clams can certain size tanks support and/or how big of clams?

Oh by the way I'm board......thats why I've posted this.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Chris Lakies

Ok, sinse clams are one of my favorite reef creatures lets talk about em!

I'll start the scenario: I have a 45 gallon main aquarium with the dimensions of 24"x24"x18" and a sump that is holding approximatly 15 gallons of water. I currently have no fish but several different corals including SPS, Soft. I also have a 3 inch teardrop Maxima and a 7-8" Squamosa. I have very minimal live rock (about 25 pounds for my acro's to purch on). Still have about half the tank area of sand clear for clammies in front of the live rock to the glass (about a 24"Lx12"W area). I'm running a 250 watt HQI pendant and a My Reef skimmer MR-2 with a Mag 18 pump for gunk export (as of right now my skimmer does not pick up much becuase I have no fish load and I only feed Bio plankton a few times a week.

Clams need #1 strong lighting, #2 nutrients (Ammonia, Nitrate), #3 Good chemistry (Calcium, Alk etc.), #4 food Planktonics (Phyto etc.). To grow big and strong.

My question is, since Clams soak up amounts of the above things that a skimmer would get rid of....how big or many clams would I have to have before it would be feasible to get rid of a skimmer. Or what is your view point on this subject. Would clams grow better without a skimmer? How many clams can certain size tanks support and/or how big of clams?

Oh by the way I'm board......thats why I've posted this.

Hi Chris,

Sorry I can't help you with the bordom But, I'm thinking that I wouldn't nesessarily get rid of the skimmer altogether. You can always turn it off for a while and see how your water quality holds up.Having it hooked up and ready to be fired up is a safety net,IMHO. Like when you go out of town for a few days,having it running is a good practice,I think. I don't really think proteing skimmer removes NO3 directly, it does remove some organics that would otherwise contribute to NO3 build up and they do oxigenate water wery well.
I run my skimmer 4 hours a day on a heavily stocked 75g tank and after feedings I let it run a bit longer, just in case.

[Ninong]

I don't think it is possible to offer any rule-of-thumb advice on the number of clams that can be kept in a certain size aquarium because there are too many variables. Each situation is different. IMO it is not a good idea to remove your skimmer, if you use one, just because you have clams. The whole idea behind the use of a skimmer as an export mechanism is to get rid of nutrients before they are mineralized.

I think Daniel Knop's advice on this question is good. He recommends that you strive to maintain your nitrates between 1-2 ppm in a tank with clams rather than shoot for zero nitrates. BTW, he likes skimmers!