T5 lighting for crocea??

Are you feeding with phyto? How much phyto are you adding per day/week and how often?

 

I would be weary of having a crocea thrive, not just survive, under T5's long term. I have a derasa under T5's in my 65 and it does very well. But croceas are the most light hungery clams you can get. If it were me, I would go with something that is not as light dependent.

 

I am planning on getting an ATI powermodule 6x39W unit over a 55g, I have been told that this is overkill and only keep SPS and light hungry corals/clams. I have been told by several people using these units that LPS will not acclimate well under this lighting and I would need to put them under over hangs on the bottom of the tank etc. They give off around 520 PAR. What T5 unit are you using over your 65G?

 

That is correct. In a 55g tank your 6-bulb ATI fixture is about as good lighting as it gets. You will have no trouble with croceas or with SPS, and yes, I'd watch the LPS and shade them a bit. At the very least put any LPS at the bottom of the tank.

 

ive got a 6x54 t5 on mine phil. and have never fed it. its on my sand bed , close to where a return is . the clam has turned itself to where i imagine it has found its sweet spot in regards to getting its nutrients.

 

Dts phyto and Reef Nutrition Live Phyto

 

Damn, that Rimless Reef is freakin' awesome.

 

chya...

 

FWIW, clams get pretty much nothing from feeding phyto and other "foods". In reality, clams make their own food by the way of photosynthesis. The old "rule" was if the clam is under 2" long, it needed to be fed, but now there are enough naysayers to that theory and it is now thought that even smaller clams get all their food from light energy. Feeding a clam over 2" is not doing anything for it. Since the smallest tridacna clams I have seen for sale ever are 1.5", and most closer to 2", there seems to be no reason to attempt to feed clams.

While croceas are the most light demanding clams, they most certainly can be housed and grow very well under t5ho alone. Proper T5ho lighting setups are known to have as much, if not MORE PAR than a MH lit tank.

 

I've got a 2" maxima under 4x54 t5s and have never fed it. I've only had it for 2 months. Came from 20k halides. I planned on getting some phyto this weekend and hoping that its not starving in the meantime. I've heard mixed things about lighting and feedings for these guys but I really don't want it to die and figured my whole tank could benefit from phyto feedings so I'm going to start dosing the tank once a week. First clam and I really don't want to lose it.