How helpful would you say clams are with filtration?

[Dr. Dendrostein]

So i am assuming these oysters are from warm water areas of the world? Certainly couldn't use something like bluepoints from off the coast of Maine could you?

Pacific oysters better success. Can thrive up to 95 degree

 

[TexasTodd]

What is your secret? I have softies,LPS and a few SPS that grow but when I get a clam after 8 months or so they die. I feed fish several times a day.Not sure what I am doing wrong and I know it can be anything.
SG 1.025
Nitrates 30
PH 8.1
ALK 8.6
CAL 480

Good light and a healthy clam to start with. I've found Squamosa and Derasa much easier to keep than Maxima and Crocea too.

 

[TexasTodd]

Love our Derusa but "she" has turned on her side, not open anymore. I stand her up and she lays down... Why? What to do? Thank You!

Prop it up with rocks on each side and a flat one under.

 

[Paulie069]

Iv

Do you ever test the water to see what the parameters are? Where do you live?

e only tested it once in mid July and they weren’t that bad at all a little off but I put fish in there and they lived long before being eaten
I live in New Jersey my water is from NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN and it’s a bit colder here so my main aquarium is at 72.5 -73 and 73 is highest I’ll let it get. Everyone told me I’d never have bright colored coral at that temp ( which is based on my seahorses comfort zone) my ponies come first. If I lost a fish or a coral I’d be upset but not as much as my ponies, my tank is all soft stuff like mushrooms,leathers , zoas, cabbage, gorgoneons zenya tree , pulsating exena things like that and everything grows well n beautiful colors
In addition to the coral and ponies (25-27) at the moment,,6 fish also. 2 green cronies, purple firefish goby,, scooter Benny,, small baby yellow tang,, and a ... blue devil damsel all in a 65gal setup with 30 gal sump. All filled with pure ocean water I get myself from 6-10 miles offshore. Sorry I babbled

 

[Paulie069]

My tank only 10 months old

 

[LRT]

I had a bunch of clams and oysters come in on gulf live rock. Most made it through curing and through alot of instability and ups and downs this year.
Temps run around 78 in my sumps. Haven't checked alk in awhile. Don't really dose much besides reef roids and ab+. They are always open filtering water. System stays pretty stable when I can learn to leave everything well enough alone.
Not sure how much they play to that effect but its super cool to have a sump full of life. And growing with minimal effort. Basicly a desk lamp and daylight cfl bulb

 

[Paulie069]

I had a bunch of clams and oysters come in on gulf live rock. Most made it through curing and through alot of instability and ups and downs this year.
Temps run around 78 in my sumps. Haven't checked alk in awhile. Don't really dose much besides reef roids and ab+. They are always open filtering water. System stays pretty stable when I can learn to leave everything well enough alone.
Not sure how much they play to that effect but its super cool to have a sump full of life. And growing with minimal effort. Basicly a desk lamp and daylight cfl bulb

Pics pics pics wanna see sump because I’ve been thinking going macro in my sump instead of fugium for something different plus lots of beautiful colors to choose from to create a beautiful sump that’s all alive

 

[LRT]

Pics pics pics wanna see sump because I’ve been thinking going macro in my sump instead of fugium for something different plus lots of beautiful colors to choose from to create a beautiful sump that’s all alive

Sure thing Theres about 200lbs of gulf and 100lbs of walt smith crammed all in there.
Took some pictures of the rock that my wife has claimed and put up under a cheap black box over one of my tables as well.
The RFA also came as hitchiker as most everything else aside from the shrooms and zoas my wife has been gluing to said rocks lol The colors that are coming in on this are are awesome im seriously considering getting a cpl more cheap black boxes to put over my sumps.

 

[Paulie069]

Sure thing Theres about 200lbs of gulf and 100lbs of walt smith crammed all in there.
Took some pictures of the rock that my wife has claimed and put up under a cheap black box over one of my tables as well.
The RFA also came as hitchiker as most everything else aside from the shrooms and zoas my wife has been gluing to said rocks lol The colors that are coming in on this are are awesome im seriously considering getting a cpl more cheap black boxes to put over my sumps.

So that’s your sump. Awesome I love the idea,, I think you just gave me a new addiction lol

 

[LRT]

So that’s your sump. Awesome I love the idea,, I think you just gave me a new addiction lol

Yessir. Lots of ideas here as well.
Can't keep predator and reef unfriendly fish up top so why not in the sump?
Thinking about doing a mantis sump on the one side.
Lots of possibilities with it though.

 

[tas]

Soooo
Would anyone advise for or against dropping a bunch of warm water gulf oysters in the refugium of my sump? I could layer the bottom and still grow macro algae.
My fear is what happens when an oyster dies. It would be hard to know until it’s too late.

 

[MrAlpha]

So you are saying your not getting coral growth/color because of the low nutrients?

Yes sps colors tend to be more pale in my last tank and this one that’s been up for a year. Very low /zero No3 and po4 in both tanks despite heavy feeding and only a skimmer for export. This large dersa was in both tanks so I’m curious if others have had similar experiences.

 

[Paulie069]

Yessir. Lots of ideas here as well.
Can't keep predator and reef unfriendly fish up top so why not in the sump?
Thinking about doing a mantis sump on the one side.
Lots of possibilities with it though.

My head is spinning with ideas

 

[Joe Rice]

Has anyone tried "regular" clams? Like the kind we make into clam chowder?

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Sure thing Theres about 200lbs of gulf and 100lbs of walt smith crammed all in there.
Took some pictures of the rock that my wife has claimed and put up under a cheap black box over one of my tables as well.
The RFA also came as hitchiker as most everything else aside from the shrooms and zoas my wife has been gluing to said rocks lol The colors that are coming in on this are are awesome im seriously considering getting a cpl more cheap black boxes to put over my sumps.

Props yo.

Your sump is looking healthy. I would be looking at that almost as much as the DT. Puffers and parrots are my favorite but are not the best in reef tanks. Everything looks healthy. I am even second guessing the effectiveness of the Eshopps skimmer against some of the more pricier ones.

 

[LRT]

Props yo.

Your sump is looking healthy. I would be looking at that almost as much as the DT. Puffers and parrots are my favorite but are not the best in reef tanks. Everything looks healthy. I am even second guessing the effectiveness of the Eshopps skimmer against some of the more pricier ones.

Yes. The frag tables are cool but get boring at times when everything is clicking! The sumps are just as cool if not even better especially at night. All kinds of critters. You name it. I'm pretty sure I got something crazy going on in sump #2. I put my puffer in it with Blenny but he freaked out and stayed in the corner trying to escape for awhile so I put him back in sump 1.
Getting ready to do deep clean on sump 2 never know what I'm going to find I guess but it will happen very carefully haha.
My choice for eshopps was nothing more than size in my space. My sumps are full of rock and not much room to play with.
I'll be honest the eshopps is crushing it. So is my little bubble magus 5 in sump 1. Super efficient, highly effective skimmers would def reccomend.

 

[Suesea]

Yessir. Lots of ideas here as well.
Can't keep predator and reef unfriendly fish up top so why not in the sump?
Thinking about doing a mantis sump on the one side.
Lots of possibilities with it though.

So awesome great idea.

 

[Paulie069]

Yessir. Lots of ideas here as well.
Can't keep predator and reef unfriendly fish up top so why not in the sump?
Thinking about doing a mantis sump on the one side.
Lots of possibilities with it though.

Ok can we see your main tank I’m interested in how well it works for keeping algae out of main
Pics pics please

 

[Suesea]

Has anyone tried "regular" clams? Like the kind we make into clam chowder?

Yes as a matter of fact I have. I put some of the tanks substrate in a hang on back filter and put 5 small clams, little neck or tops can't remember, they were little. It worked like a charm. I put cheato on top of that.

 

[LRT]

Ok can we see your main tank I’m interested in how well it works for keeping algae out of main
Pics pics please

No DT on this system. Full frag table system with the 2 sumps that I call reservoirs that I posted earlier.
You can also check it out if you click on the build thread thats somewhere around my avatar. Ill tag you on my build