What PAR are your maximas under?

[MartinM]

The last time I had a maxima, PAR meters hadn’t been invented. It was 15cm+, grew like crazy, and was maybe 15cm beneath a 150w, 10k halide bulb.

I’m back in the hobby now and have two large (20cm+) maximas (one blue, one pink) currently on the sand at about 225-250 PAR as measured by my Apogee. The rock I’d like to put them on gets about 450-550, but I plan on using acclimation mode at 50% power for a week or so.

I’m interested to hear from maxima owners who’ve had their clams 6+ months and are seeing good growth: what PAR is it under?

 

[Patientman]

No experience with clams … but they have always been on my wish list so going to "follow along" and hope to learn with you!

 

[musaabi]

I just got my first maxima clam and I heard high par as well. I tried putting it on the top of my rock work closest to the light and it kept moving and falling off. I put it in the middle of the tank and it latched on and seems to be doing well. My PAR in the tank is on the lower side. 200 par where I placed it originally and now it’s sitting in about 100-150 range but it seems happy. It’s only been a couple of weeks since I got and maybe about a week since it’s been in the middle so no long term results as of yet. I actually ordered a clam rock to put it in but that’s not coming until Friday and it already latched to the rock that it’s on now so I think I’m kinda stuck unless I decide to cut it off.

 

[MartinM]

Yep probably best not to cut it off, but maybe slowly increase the light. I acclimated mine on the sand at about 225, turned my lights onto acclimation mode and moved them to the top (300, will slowly ramp to 450). They’ve attached and dropping my calcium like nuts so there’s some growth. Keep an eye out for new growth, as with everything we keep, if it’s not growing, it’s dying...

 

[MartinM]

No experience with clams … but they have always been on my wish list so going to "follow along" and hope to learn with you!

I love maxima clams and carpet anemones, they’re always my main reason to have a reef aquarium!

I took a long break from the hobby after a natural disaster destroyed everything (home and aquariums) and back then there were no PAR meters. I believe I will return to metal halide lights, though. I’m tired of the narrow coverage and poor color rendering of LEDs :/

 

[OrionN]

Clams will have the best color under very bright light. My clams, all of them from Croeca, Maxima, Noae, Squamosa and Gigas (I don't have Derasa right now) are under daylight at about 500 PAR. They are growing like weed.

 

[musaabi]

Yep probably best not to cut it off, but maybe slowly increase the light. I acclimated mine on the sand at about 225, turned my lights onto acclimation mode and moved them to the top (300, will slowly ramp to 450). They’ve attached and dropping my calcium like nuts so there’s some growth. Keep an eye out for new growth, as with everything we keep, if it’s not growing, it’s dying...

Ironically this morning I found it detached, looks like it got sick of that spot. It’s in the sand right now as the clam rock is coming in today. It’s like it knew to detach itself now that the package is coming

 

[MartinM]

I know @OrionN redommebds 300+ and he has some really old clams. I’ve been seeing him post on and off for 15+ years!

 

[OrionN]

I keep clams for years with Crocea grew from 1 inch to 6 inches under 6500K MH and Crocea grew from 1.25 inches to 2.5 inches currently under daylight LED (5500K LED flood light from Home Depo) at 550 PAR

 

[Dburr1014]

Hmmm, am I the only one keeping them under a lower par? Mine is about 5" now. When I bought it 18 or so months ago it was about 2". It's under led lights with only about 240 parser the surface. The clam about 6"under that. I was thinking of lowering it down the rock work some. 2nd pic when I bought it. 1st is a couple months ago.

 

[OrionN]

Maxima that grew from 2” to 5” over 18 months is unheard of. I don’t think I can do that. My Gigas grew from 2 inches to 8+ inches over 18 months, but that is a T. Gigas not a T. crocea or T. maxima

 

[Koopmb]

Yep probably best not to cut it off, but maybe slowly increase the light. I acclimated mine on the sand at about 225, turned my lights onto acclimation mode and moved them to the top (300, will slowly ramp to 450). They’ve attached and dropping my calcium like nuts so there’s some growth. Keep an eye out for new growth, as with everything we keep, if it’s not growing, it’s dying...

Having had a few clams over the years, and learning the hard way, I've had best success when I've done 2 things.....

1. "Set it and forget it"....meaning that I preplan a location, set the clam into that spot, and don't move it around. I've found that moving them too much stresses them out.

2. Consistent water quality.

I've grown clams under VHO tubes, LEDs, both cheap $100 Chinese black boxes and Ecotech Radions, but found the above two situations to be the most important.

 

[hart24601]

My maxima, teardrops and crocea are around 350 par. Hippos and squammys are under around 600-700 par, derasas around 100-200 par as mine at least scoot away from the light. I went up to 1800 PAR for fun measured at the mantle, but didn't see any growth improvement from those I tested it with (hippo and squammy) so went back down to 600-700.

I think we often forget that clams are really individuals, we have good general species guides, but growth and light requirements can vary substantially between clams of the even the same species.

 

[Michael Gray]

Clams will have the best color under very bright light. My clams, all of them from Croeca, Maxima, Noae, Squamosa and Gigas (I don't have Derasa right now) are under daylight at about 500 PAR. They are growing like weed.

Holy I want the first one

 

[Koigula]

I use ATI power module 4' 6x54x and 3 x 75 led pucks. I ended up getting a PAR meter for first time as this can torch anything. I have just north of 350 PAR and it does well.

Part of the pandemic and Hawaii ban is positive. I tend to take better care of everything with less availability. A rescue yellow tang is monitored every day.