T5 lighting for clams?

[Blorton]

Salutations!

I'm building up a 75G tank with the intention of keeping clams and a mix of critters in it. I've got a 29 FOWLR now that will move into that and possibly become a seahorse tank. The current finned inhabitants are all small and docile. (Just one blue ****sel, a flame angel and two chromis.)

I'm undecided on lighting, but am leaning towards four tubes of t5, possibly six. If it's four, I'll do two 10k's and two actinics.

Does that sound workable to y'all? Tank depth will only be roughly 18". It will be BB, but with some sort of additional bottom plastic layer for safety. (I actually found some cool sky blue plastic cutting boards at wally world that would be perfect save a couple of issues.)

Secondly - any recommendations on vendors or brands to seek? For some reason, 10k in a 48" t5 seems to be pretty rare.

Any comments would be most appreciated. Due to the ambient conditions, MH is a very unattractive option.

Thanks,
Dan


P.S. Plan B is cheap electronic shop lights from HD loaded with the coralife t12 offerings. Should I forget that?

[Loverotties]

What kind of clams do you want?It depends,some need Mh.

[Blorton]

Bleh. I'm seriously disenchanted with the pricing on the fixtures with good reflectors. $300+ for a six tube 48" fixture without bulbs? Sheebus.

Would the coralife 4x65 pc be usable? It's loaded with two 10k's and two actinics. I wouldn't mind swapping the 10's to a lower K value if that would yield what clams like.

As for the clams I want - the big man eating ones you see in the movies.

Thanks!
Dan

[epidemic]

PC will not support clams. A T. deresa (needs least light of clams) might live for a while, but wouldn't be very happy. I have heard of people keeping deresa clams for a while under PC, but no true success stories

[Blorton]

Originally Posted by epidemic

PC will not support clams. A T. deresa (needs least light of clams) might live for a while, but wouldn't be very happy. I have heard of people keeping deresa clams for a while under PC, but no true success stories

Even on a BB 75 with maybe 18" depth? That's is better than 3watts per gallon.

Dadgummit. Ugh. Well, thanks for the feedback.

Dan

[REMF]

Go with the T5's you will not regret it. You can do a retro in a home made canopy and save some $ you will also be able to support SPS with T5.

[Blorton]

Thanks for the response and interesting timing there.

I broke down yesterday and ordered the 4 tube tek fixture. It should be here by Tuesday or Wednesday. Can't wait to check it out.

I figure I can always put the clam(s) higher in the tank if need be, and am also thinking I'll try swapping one of the 10K's for a 6500K. Those are reported to put out some crazy PAR.

Cheers!
Dan

[epidemic]

The 65k has a lot of intensity, but it is a little yellow. I use 2 65k 250w MH w/ 330w actinics, it looks good and things grow really fast.