Spotlights for clams

[OscarHaglund]

In picking up a ~10-15 cm maxima clam in a few weeks. This will be my first foray into clam keeping. I have two seemingly suitable spots in my rock work that have good lighting and not to much direct flow.
These spots are both around 250-300 par and my understanding is that 400-500 would be better. I can’t dial up the lights more because im worried about cooking my other nearby corals.
So im thinking some kind of spotlight would be a good idea to supplement par. What are the options? I find it’s difficult to google and since i only need to supplement a small area it would be nice with something cheap.

Another related question, i have been using long ramp up and down times on my reef but how long should i run at peak with a maxima (right now i only have 3 hours peak)

 

[TopClamSkoo]

Kessil 160we is what I use.
Ramp up to 100 percent is in 2 hrs.
I had a maxima grow about lil more than an inch in a year until I had a crash from bad water.
I have a crocea now. And I already see new she'll growth!

 

[TopClamSkoo]

70 percent is my top intensity with 10000k

 

[ナイトコア猫]

Option 1. Put clam onto clam cradle thing. Now you can move the whole clam to the right PAR location.

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Option 2. If not, these could help: What @TopClamSkoo said—use appropriate Kessil lighting with a narrow adaptor to focus the beam, then position light using rockwork and edges to "block" or "spill out" light to reduce effect to corals not desiring of more lighting

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I suggest the best option as the first option. Move just the clam using a clam cradle thing. It is cheapest and carries the least risk. Option 2 is to purchase a Kessil light like what @TopClamSkoo uses, making sure it has compatibility with a narrow lense adaptor. The other risk is that unless you take advantage of rockwork or edges of tank to block lighting or intentionally spill light outside tank, it is possible you'll still increase the PAR on other corals, depending on proximity to other corals.

If you wish to use a lighting option, one of the Kessils with adaptor would be best idea, as they're known for ability to direct light into a beam.

 

[TopClamSkoo]

A much better response and info from
Naitokoa... Can't read the kanji. Lol!

 

[ナイトコア猫]

That's far too kind of you!!
The kanji is neko (cat).

 

[OscarHaglund]

i cant place it much higer in the aquascape, only spot is maybe 350 par but that puts it in full blast of my powerheads.

the 160 and 80 seem to have wide angle lenses and no narrow kits. Unfortunately the 360 is way too much money. So still looking for a good solution

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

At this point a few good suggestions have been made that you have shot down, its hard to offer good suggestion, we don't know what kind of light you have already, how deep is the tank, rockwork, etc...

Maybe post a pic of your tank? In my opinion, 250-300 PAR for 3 hours a day might be sufficient, maybe not, but personally I would increase the PAR or lengthen the peak hours.

 

[ナイトコア猫]

Perhaps the last few things I can offer from bag of tricks. Our goal is to reduce the light spread angle. This is a common problem in studio and stage lighting.

Using equipment, you're looking for, on sites like Adorama.com or bhphotovideo.com:

1. A lense typically used for studio lighting, such as a fresnel lense.

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2. A snoot, which is an attachment, shaped like a cone, that goes on studio/photography light sources.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1342670-REG/godox_photo_equipment_sn01_snoot_with_honey.html

3. A barndoor with doors folded in as much as possible.

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4. If unable to find appropriate off-the-shelf items, then you can DIY the same thing using a tall, narrow tin can. Remove the lid, and then cut a hole on the other end.

Either way, you'll still need a way to safely mount both the light and the lighting adjustment equipment, minding how hot the light source will be. For sure, it will work. This is how lighthouses and studio lights work. It may be tricky to get the desired aesthetics.

.. This would be for if there is no other way .. maybe others here knows other reef purpose-built lighting to recommend.

 

[OscarHaglund]

At this point a few good suggestions have been made that you have shot down, its hard to offer good suggestion, we don't know what kind of light you have already, how deep is the tank, rockwork, etc...

Maybe post a pic of your tank? In my opinion, 250-300 PAR for 3 hours a day might be sufficient, maybe not, but personally I would increase the PAR or lengthen the peak hours.

Apologies, no intention to seem as shooting them down. I appreciate the responses

 

[OscarHaglund]

Maybe post a pic of your tank? In my opinion, 250-300 PAR for 3 hours a day might be sufficient, maybe not, but personally I would increase the PAR or lengthen the peak hours.

3h peak is what i currently run, I believe i can extend this, hence why i asked about how long people would run their peak period.

these indicate possible locations (green, yellow, red) and flow in blue.
tank is rescaped a little in the back left and has different flow than the powerhead placements you can see in the image (blue lines are correct).
Left side is a strong gyre flow high close to the water surface. Left are two more diffuse mlw20 pumps.

green has 350 par but is a bit precarious would block flow.
Yellow has 250 par.
Red 300 par

 

[OscarHaglund]

Thinking about it more, the red area goes pretty far back where i am currently only housing some sps frags. If i place it there and supplement with a spot like kessil 160 or even 80 mounted at a low height i would probably not illuminate an area that has anything other than some sps. Might a a80 mounted close to the surface and supplement the 150-200 extra par 15cm or so below the surface?

 

[Shirak]

narrow focus 5000-6000k daylight LED from Amazon is all you need

 

[OrionN]

What light spectrum corals, clams and anemones thrive under depends on the a population of zooxanthellae compliments they have. Using just blue light will select for and cause the zooxanthellae become near homogenous population.
To be sure, there are deep water coral with zooxanthellae specifics to the blue light spectrum and they likely doing OK if you give them enough blue light. Still having a healthy heterogenous population of zooxanthellae is best for the animal. Why on earth we want our coral only under blue light, certainly I don’t. It is not healthy or natural. Heterogeneous population of zooxanthellae contributed to the health and resilient of the the animal.

While blue light can grow corals and clams, full spectrum light is always better.

 

[minus9]

My response will likely not make some people happy, but I'm here for the animals (and keeper's) benefit. A clam isn't an animal you just buy and place in a tank hoping you can create the right environment for it. Seeing your tank, I wouldn't add a clam, unless you changed or rearranged some animals and created a high light area that won't impact the surrounding animals in a negative way. You need 6-8hrs of peak intensity of 350 micro moles or more for maxima to thrive (full spectrum daylight, not heavy blue). My first piece of advice would be to buy James Fatherree's new book on clams and read it. It's $36 on Amazon and has a wealth of knowledge and will arm you with enough information to make the right choice when considering keeping these awesome, unique animals. Clams are complex animals, they're not "simple" animals like corals, which don't have lungs, stomachs, gills, etc...so creating an environment for them takes a little more planning and knowledge. I would take your time, learn more, then make a more informed decision whether you can create the right environment for a clam. Maxima and croea clams are among the hardest species to keep, derasa, squamosa and hippopus are better suited as first clams, but unfortunately, they get big and require more room.
Happy new year and happy reefing!

 

[OscarHaglund]

My response will likely not make some people happy, but I'm here for the animals (and keeper's) benefit. A clam isn't an animal you just buy and place in a tank hoping you can create the right environment for it. Seeing your tank, I wouldn't add a clam, unless you changed or rearranged some animals and created a high light area that won't impact the surrounding animals in a negative way. You need 6-8hrs of peak intensity of 350 micro moles or more for maxima to thrive (full spectrum daylight, not heavy blue). My first piece of advice would be to buy James Fatherree's new book on clams and read it. It's $36 on Amazon and has a wealth of knowledge and will arm you with enough information to make the right choice when considering keeping these awesome, unique animals. Clams are complex animals, they're not "simple" animals like corals, which don't have lungs, stomachs, gills, etc...so creating an environment for them takes a little more planning and knowledge. I would take your time, learn more, then make a more informed decision whether you can create the right environment for a clam. Maxima and croea clams are among the hardest species to keep, derasa, squamosa and hippopus are better suited as first clams, but unfortunately, they get big and require more room.
Happy new year and happy reefing!

Thanks for the advice.
The clam is payed for already so there is not really any going back. I have also just bought the book as well as a supplementary kessil light. I don’t believe i can get daylight spectrum from it but based on your feedback I will not run it full blue but much more towards white. My current intention is to add this light to augment the back left area of the tank that currenly gets 200-300 par. With the light i expect breaking 500 in that area is doable. This area currently only has a few frags that can be moved if required.
I really do hope this is doable

 

[minus9]

40% color is pretty good with Kessil’s and shoot for 350 micro moles for 8hrs and you should be fine.

 

[cdw79]

I will also add that for awhile I struggled to get a true baseline of what is needed for clam care. Specifics were hard to track down, so maybe this would help. I've had really impressive growth on my Derasa clam with it hanging out in about 225 Par I believe it is (5 months or so of care) and am seeing new growth on my Maxima clam under approximately 275 ish par (I have the actual numbers on my iPad but I don't have it with me right now). My lighting schedule has a full color spectrum at peak intensity for a good 6 ish hours before tapering down to all blue's for a few hours in the evening.

Under these conditions, my clams have done great- rapid growth on the Derasa and I'm now seeing growth on my small maxima (only had it for about 6-8 weeks or so). I am far from an expert, but I've observed clams doing well under these conditions, so I'd say if you can replicate that then you should definitely be good to go! Would definitely recommend captive bred clams (both of mine are), though, as I've read that wild clams don't always transition as well to lighting on the lower side of acceptability, like in my tank.

Best of luck with it!