PAR and placement for a maxima clam.

[Tahoe61]

Oh, and I have kept pretty much all of my clams in the sand and have never measured par. The maximas and crocea I have always placed a flat piece of rock under the sand to give them something to hold onto.

Back in the 1990's we kept clams alive under PC lighting.
I do think that supplemental feeding of phyto are pretty beneficial, but not mandatory. I do believe that the uptake of DOC by clams in the aquarium is beneficial and with the trend towards ULNS clams may need additional sources of nitrates and other nutrients.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I'll try and dispel this myth again, the smaller the clam does not mean they need to be fed more. They have an adequate amount zoanthele in their mantle, contrary to popular belief that they do not. With that being said though, feeding the them via phyto or other filter feeding food is not a bad idea. Here is a link to an article on feeding and small clam sizes: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/7/inverts

You have a nice looking clam there! Just keep and eye on it and make sure it doesn't jump down and land wrong. Should do just fine up there.

I should have written in my experience. I have had a few baby maximas (over 6) in my time and the ones that did best and grew nicely were the ones higher in the tank, fed regularly and not bothered by other inhabitants. The babies left on the sand in my fully mature system got knocked too much and never settled, I had some in a low nutrient tank that did not grow much at all. Then when I began higher tank, confined, and feeding, they grew. This is not a scientific experiment by any means. JME

With the OP, I was worried it was not a very mature system and that can effect the nutritional levels mentioned in your article. So, I suggested the feeding .

 

[tomtom2245]

I should have written in my experience. I have had a few baby maximas (over 6) in my time and the ones that did best and grew nicely were the ones higher in the tank, fed regularly and not bothered by other inhabitants. The babies left on the sand in my fully mature system got knocked too much and never settled, I had some in a low nutrient tank that did not grow much at all. Then when I began higher tank, confined, and feeding, they grew. This is not a scientific experiment by any means. JME

With the OP, I was worried it was not a very mature system and that can effect the nutritional levels mentioned in your article. So, I suggested the feeding .

Don't get me wrong, I believe supplemental feeding is beneficial to all clams of all sizes, especially in newer tanks or ULNS. I merely try to dissuade the thoughts that you HAVE to feed smaller clams in order to keep them. There are countless people who are under the impression that small clams are incapable of supporting themselves due to smaller amounts of zoanthele.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

I wanna say I'm seeing 200+ par on the sand... XR30W's with wide angles (gen3). Main power is like 90% with white/red/green at maybe 30% max? I can get those numbers if you like.
Otherwise other than taking a few months to get the lights that high, I keep my clams in the hot zone directly underneath on the sand.
Don't forget, unlike corals the clam can close up if it's not happy. Does this include too much light? Why not.. The clam is smarter than I am in these matters, I just provide the light.
In all fairness though I do carbon dose and feed particulate foods every now and then. So that could offset some things.