Can I keep sps with this?

[beeguiles]

This is the light I ordered for my 10g tank. It says it 72 watt output so that would be like 7 watts per gallon right? I'm pretty sure ill be able to keep anything with that much light but I just wanted to double check here. I want to be able to keep sps in there and are there any clams that stay small enough for a 10 gallon. Hopefully its going to be a very open looking tank with lots of space on the sandbed. The only thing going on the bottom is the plate coral so far and maybe a clam if it is permitting. If not its not a big deal bit I saw these gorgeous clams at my lfs.

Odyssea T5 Aquarium Lighting

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, that should be plenty of light...and the smallest of all the clams would be the crocea clam I believe.

 

[Bifferwine]

I think a crocea clam would be fine in there. You can get them when they are very small. I had one in a 3 gallon pico tank for a long time.

 

[beeguiles]

Do they grow very slowly?

 

[little_fish]

On the clam subject, dont be tempted to get those really cute, really tiny maxima clams. They need a steady diet of phyto and other micro stuff to survive past the baby stage. To feed them enough at that size would crash your tank. Once they get about 3 inches, they can live off of light alone. Which sucks, because they are so cute when they are that small.

 

[beeguiles]

Yea that does suck. I saw some at the store and they were really tiny. Does that go the same for small crocea clams?

 

[little_fish]

I dont know, hopefully biff knows

 

[Northstar24]

The owner of my LFS has told me to stay away from all the mini clams. With pretty much any of them you want them to be 3 inches or larger

 

[Northstar24]

Do they grow very slowly?

This depends on the clam, my Derasa grew a good inch in a couple of months, before the majestic angel I had decided to develop a taste for clam. I have a crocea now that is about 4 inches, and it seems to be growing slower - but they also don't get nearly as large as maxima's or derasa's

 

[beeguiles]

When I'm ready for a clam I think ill go with the crocea, ill try to find a 4-5 inch one.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have only kept croceas, but have always had good luck with them. The smallest one I had was only an inch long, but I had it for a year before I gave it back to the LFS. Croceas are the easiest clams to keep, IMO.

 

[beeguiles]

So is it okay to get a small crocea do you think biff?

 

[Bifferwine]

If you have good lights, yes, I think so. Obviously, the larger you can go, the better the odds of success.

 

[beeguiles]

Are my lights good enough? Its a 4 bulb, 18 watt each t5 fixture. 72 watts altogether

 

[beeguiles]

I just really don't want to buy it and end up regretting it. Is rather figure it all out now beforehand

 

[bjohanson1234]

I would say so. I have a clam under 96 watts of t5 in a 30 gallon tank. It is doing very well. So your 72 on a 10 gallon would be good.

 

[beeguiles]

Great! I really wanted to have enough light to be able to house whatever coral I want in this tank. It may be small but I want it to have lots of cool corals.

 

[felixfish]

I have the next size 30" Odyssea on my 20 gallon. Thanks for thr info on your thread! Only thing about the light is they place the 2 10K's and 2 actinics next to one another. Haven't opened up the light yet.

 

[beeguiles]

Yea you can prlly switch them around yourself. I didn't try I just put the light on the tank the way it is. I hope you enjoy yours. I like mine so far.

 

[bjohanson1234]

You can switch the bulbs around, but the switches won't be controlling the 10ks and the actinics separately. They will now each control one 10k and one actinic.