Matt's 29g Custom LED

matt_longview wrote:When/how will I know if lighting isn't enough? I'd say it's approx 1.5" across.

What and how would you suggest? Phytoplankton and try to cover it, trapping plankton inside for half an hour?

Matt
Thats a good question, I haver never fed one! You can experiment with this one and when I get my little one you will have it figured out :>)

Argument against feeding clams.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/7/inverts#h4

And how to feed a baby clam.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0504/baby_maxima.html

I guess it's up for you to decide. My maxima was 2 inches when I got it and I never fed it a drop of phyto. My derasa was a little bigger, about 3 inches. I've had good luck with both.

So here's my conclusion... I had already read about some benefits to adding phyto to a reef and was considering it before. I messaged marc from meleevsreef earlier today because I found that same article. I've decided to pull the clam out every other day and put him in a bowl with 1.5ml of plankton added for 15 min. When I'm done I'll put him back in and pour in the water. The directions say 5 to 10ml for 50g, so I'll be well under the small suggestion but will give my clam and corals a little extra food.

Sounds like a plan, let us know how it works out for you.

Great write up man. I love the quality of your pics. Im a out to post some up... but my SLR is down and under work. So Ill be using a Canon Powershot SX20IS with factory lens. What setup did you use?

Canon 30d 55mm lens. I have a 300mm also that I'll use for macro shots but I don't have a tripod right now to keep the shots stay enough. Thought about picking up the setup meleevsreef haas for over the to photos that hangs on the side of your tank. iPhoto also. :-)

Thanks!

Thought I would throw this out there. Tested my water tonight and got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates... which made me decide that I'm definately going to feed! Might start not being so particular about netting up leftover food after feeding also!

Matt
Do you have a clean up crew in there? if so you should not be having to remove uneaten food. You may be running crabless though, thats why I like a few crabs, to clean up the leftovers. Even a couple of shrimp should do that. Its amazing though how these little tanks if set up right will keep the water quality so good. It all goes back to planning the system though don't it. Glad to see it all coming together so nice for you! And the best part, No skimmer to deal with!!!!

I have a very small clean up crew. 3 or 4 blue legged hermits. 3 or 4 astrea snails, 1 reef hermit. A large bristle star (which I actually spot feed once a week or so) and a coral banded shrimp... which I also spot feed when I feed the star. The only things I want to add are the mexican turbo snail and a few reef hermits, mainly because I love the way they look with those bright legs.

But yeah... couldn't believe I already had 0 nitrates when I checked. My test kit has me wait 5 minutes... I waited 5 to check it and then just kept waiting... thinking maybe I hadn't waited long enough or something. Nope... stayed at 0.

If that's an API test kit, did you shake the bottles according to the instructions? Just checking because I have made that mistake myself.

Yeah I shake it all up. Bottle 1 drops, shake for 5 seconds. Shake bottle 2 for 30 seconds, add drops. Shake vile for 1 minute. Something like that anyways... wrote that from memory if it's not correct. I follow along with instructions while I'm doing it. Very good tip though!

The only things I want to add are the mexican turbo snail and a few reef hermits, mainly because I love the way they look with those bright legs.

I was in Bossier City the other day and saw that Critter Company had a tank full of mexican hermits, if I had known, I woulda got you one. They have a display tank over there and it has a giant Deresa clam in there that is probably 16" or more in length, it is awsome, next time I go I will get a pic to post here.

You know of anywhere over there that I could get a nano-glo from? Here in a few weeks me and my wife are going over there for an entire day to check out all the stores over there and that's one of the things I'm looking for.

Matt
Probably not going to find one anywhere in a store. The best deal I have found on them is at Petsolutions, they got em for $49.99, thats $10.00 cheaper than anyone else I found. I have another brand new one here in a box but I just can't let it go. The first one I had went bad, it would come on but the leds were really dim, could hardly tell they were on. Well, I ordered another from Petsolutions to get one quick and in the meantime I filled out the warranty thingy on the light and they got right back to me and said they were sending a replacement free so I ended up with an extra, at least I know they have good warranty service. I am keeping the extra though just in case I have another go out, I don't want to have to worry about loosing my Chaeto. Here is a link to Petsolutions light.

Nano Glo

Thanks Donnie. I don't mind ordering online. I just really like trying to buy from people who own good local stores ya know? Seems they're few and far between and if those of us who are in the hobby would spent a few extra bucks here and there and get from a quality LFS instead of finding the cheapest deal online there would be more of them.

That nano-glo looks very promising.

DonnieP wrote:

The only things I want to add are the mexican turbo snail and a few reef hermits, mainly because I love the way they look with those bright legs.

I was in Bossier City the other day and saw that Critter Company had a tank full of mexican hermits, if I had known, I woulda got you one. They have a display tank over there and it has a giant Deresa clam in there that is probably 16" or more in length, it is awsome, next time I go I will get a pic to post here.

Did you all ever see that huge clam in Exotic Fish? Biggest clam I ever saw in a tank. He had it under a row of t5 lights then he had it under metal halides last time I was in there. I wonder what happened to that clam. Maybe it's at Critter Co. now.

matt_longview wrote:Thanks Donnie. I don't mind ordering online. I just really like trying to buy from people who own good local stores ya know? Seems they're few and far between and if those of us who are in the hobby would spent a few extra bucks here and there and get from a quality LFS instead of finding the cheapest deal online there would be more of them.

That nano-glo looks very promising.

Matt
I agree on supporting the local fish stores but I don't think you will find the nano glo in any store, only place I have seen them is online. If you find one, let us know where, I will do more shopping there.

Yeah, I can't find them anywhere either. I'll give bossier a chance before placing my order! :-)

Hoping somebody has a sunset monti!

Matt
If you are going to Shreveport-Bossier, while you are over there give Kevin at Superior Aquatics a call and check out his stuff, I would recommend him first, just give him a call before you go and if he is around he will tell you to come on by. His # 318-936-9602

I got his info from you on the other forum. He's the main reason I'm heading over there. :-)

Donnie - is Superior Aquatics ran out of someones house? Never heard of it. What about the critter company? Is that the store down from the Bass Pro?

BigBlue wrote:Donnie - is Superior Aquatics ran out of someones house? Never heard of it. What about the critter company? Is that the store down from the Bass Pro?

Yes Superior Aquatics is ran out of his house and he has some really nice corals. Critter company is just down the road from Bass Pro.

matt_longview wrote:So here's my conclusion... I had already read about some benefits to adding phyto to a reef and was considering it before. I messaged marc from meleevsreef earlier today because I found that same article. I've decided to pull the clam out every other day and put him in a bowl with 1.5ml of plankton added for 15 min. When I'm done I'll put him back in and pour in the water. The directions say 5 to 10ml for 50g, so I'll be well under the small suggestion but will give my clam and corals a little extra food.

Hey Matt
It didn't cross my mind the other day about removing the clam to feed it but you know that dude will attach itself to the rock and you won't be able to take it out of the tank. You should check it now it may already be attached. If not you can , keep it on a piece of shell so if it attaches it will attach to the shell and not the rock that way you can remove it shell and all. Once it is big enough you can take a razor blade and slide it along the shell and remove it if you want to let it attach to the rock. Sorry I didn't think of it sooner, maybe it has not attached yet. If its attached to the rock you can't force it loose it will kill it. You can do the razor blade if you can get under it but be very careful.

I have delt with kevin on some stuff and it ended up kinda odd

Thanks for the heads up Donnie. I actually had him on a frag plug but I ended up deciding today to quit moving him around. He won't attach to the frag plug, has been off of it every single morning and I've actually watched him move off of it and moving him in and out of the tank to feed him just doesn't seem to be what's best. I decided to leave it in the tank and just spot feed it. Worked well tonight.

If anyone ever does remove a clam to feed my suggestion would be to get it to attach to a piece of rubble and then leave that rubble inside of a container and leave the container in the tank full time. Then when you're ready to feed just pull the entire container out. That way they never get handled, and they're never out of the water.