Giant Clam Shell

Discussion in 'Clams' started by quincyman, Feb 11, 2005.

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  1. quincyman

    quincyman Guest

    :eek: :p

    This is my second attempt at a nano reef. Question: I ordered some live rock from LiveAquaria.com ( Select Lalao Rock) . The pieces I received were very pretty full of green, red, some blue and purple coralline. My order was for 30 lbs of this rock, which I did get - no rubble. One of the pieces to my surprise was a giant clam shell (about 15lbs on my scale) full of little fan worms, a few bristles, some red kelp, and a bunch of what looks like baby oysters. I broke the shell up into a couple of large pieces and out some of them into the tank. My question will the shells act as a natural buffer and help me keep my calcium, Ph and alkalinity in check. Also my water is still a little cloudy is this normal for a tank that is not a month old yet. I actually put the rock in the tank for a week then took them out and scrubbed all the dead matter off. I know it is not my water quality since I own a R/O filter. Any Suggestions?
     
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  3. quincyman

    quincyman Guest

    To clarify the total volume of live rock is 45lbs total 30lbs were of the rock I orded then the extra 15lbs is from the shell.
     
  4. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2000
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    Location:
    Berkeley, CA
    The buffering from the shell will be minimum I'd think unless you melt the thing in a calcium reactor. The cloudy water may be expected since you've been scrubbing rocks. What kind of sand? New southdown can make the water cloudy too.
     
  5. quincyman

    quincyman Guest

    for the reply. The type of sand I used is Natures Ocean live sand.
     
  6. Jason McKenzie

    Jason McKenzie Super Moderator

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2003
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    Location:
    Vancouver, BC,Canada
    I don't think a shell will ever break down or Buffer your CA PH or ALK. For the shell to break down and return the Cal to the water your PH would have to drop below 7.8. But it will be a cool addition to your tank and give you great spots to mount coral frags when you start adding coral.
    As for the cloudy water, could you give us a little more details on your tank like how big, do you have a sump, are you running any mechanical filters, do you have a skimmer.

    Jason
     
  7. quincyman

    quincyman Guest

    Jason: Sorry for not giving any addtional info. My tanks is a 25 flat back ready to run type system, it has a skimmer built into the unit. There is a mini sump area in the rea of the tank, this is where there skimmer is placed. I got tank from Display Collectibles, they make custom acrylic products. The tank itself is absoulty beatiful. I wll be posting some pictures soon. Right now the tank is about two weeks old - was set up on 1/28. I am currently using NitroMax Marine to help build up my bacteria.