Cleaner Clams Group Buy

Yes I feed the dead ones to my aggressive tank. they love clams on the half shell

 

Great Matt! I have fed mine too on the half shell :0) I just don't know which was the more aggressive...the fish or nassarius snails! :-0) Are you going to try to see if the clams can control the PO so you wouldn't have to dose LC?

Yes Bud! Do you have all them now in the 40B? I'm really anxious to hear how they do on the NO and PO :0) That would be awesome if they work to where one wouldn't have to buy GFO :0)

What size are they? Will an inch of sand cover them? If not, I may have to clean sand this weekend /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif

 

So far 9 of our 10 have burrowed and the remaining one is still alive. Not sure why he hasn't dug in.

 

Good Dave! I'm wondering if some of them show the behavior like freshwater clams as they do not always stay buried? He's probably check to see where he can find some food in your tank!! lol

 

One Of Mine was Still On The Surface After A Couple Hours, So I Buried It A Little And Haven't Seen It Since

 

i found this posting about them as far as using calcium " I brought some back from the lower Rappahannock and they live for over a year in my sump. I had to get rid of them becuase I also had some large clams in my display and combined they sucked the calcium up faster then I could drip it. I remember them having a huge range of survivability with temp and salinity." found on http://wamas.org/forums/topic/55915-cleaner-clam-to-lower-nitrate/

 

It's been a few days...have you tested Bud? Anyone else?


Maybe CA should be tested too...

 

So the order arrived on the 16th...a lot of us are interested in what results are seen, if any. Can we get some updates...survival, nitrates, phosphates, calcium consumption/changes? :0)

 

I would love to give a ton of valuable information but feel that my data is useless!!!!! Since I had major nitrate issues after Murphy's Law kicked in on my trips, I can not give any information other than my Nitrates have seen a major reduction (partially due to water changes) my phosphates are not measurable, and my calcium is Reef Crystal Salt High.

Wish I could give valuable information.

The only thing I can say is 1 out of 10 died so I have 9 of them!

 

Thanks Chris and Bud! Anyone else have PO and NO test comparisons?

Chris, are you still doing major water changes (frequency or volume)? I don't know what you usually want your PO and NO levels to run but maybe you could stop the WC's when they are somewhat higher than you want (baseline) and then begin testing and reporting? :0)

Bud, when you put the clams in the 120 (Tank 2), maybe you can test (before feeding-LOL) and use that as the baseline? Then begin testing and reporting? Also, I believe a lot of the retailers state that anything that moves through or on top of the sand, they call 'sand-sifters. My Conch rarely goes under the sand and it's a sand sifter...go figure! I think we both have the same perception that a sand sifter moves a lot of the sand, almost bull-dozing through it! :0) That's why I got a Conch...go figure /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/sad.gif

 

Updates? please :0)

 

Bump.

 

Any updates on how this is turning out???

 

I would say this has been an awesome purchase for me! My Nitrates were 100+ because a lot of different issues while I was out of town for awhile. After major water changes, I got them down to 30. Since then in my 90. I have done 10 gallon water changes weekly, with the water changes and the clams my Nitrates are less 4. My phosphates are still 0 which I think means I have some algae sucking up the phosphates giving me a false reading.

My tank is stocked well with a large tang (that I won't name because people will tell me I shouldn't have it) a foxface, six clowns, a mystery wrasse and a sixline.

Also I went from having 9 alive to 8. When they die, they just come out of the sand bed and die.

 

Mine are doing good. I haven't seen any reductions in nitrates but I don't think I bought enough clams for my size of system.
I would be willing to do another group buy in the near future

 

Fwiw, my kids put 2 small river clams (silver dollar size) in their freshwater biocube 14. Before they put them in there was algae growing all over the back and the water was cloudy. Within 2 weeks most of the algae was gone the water was crystal clear and plants really started growing, We don't have any freshwater test kits for that tank, but I can only assume it was the clams that caused the dramatic difference.