"Natural" Filtration

[paintman27]

Just think, you could give all the pearls fancy names and triple the price

 

[Wilson]

Just think, you could give all the pearls fancy names and triple the price

Megatron pearls, reef safe.

 

[Salted]

Just think, you could give all the pearls fancy names and triple the price

"Captive Reef Pearls", sustainable, organic, home farm raised. NJRC members get 15% discount.

 

[ole farny]

I have had (bay tanks) in the past and wasn’t able to keep them alive.
most aquariums just don’t have enough nutrients to keep them going.
I think you will have to feed them to keep them for the long haul. Good luck

i've never done a bay tank, but i've put mussels, clams and oysters all in a couple different reef tanks and this has generally been my experience. i don't think there is enough of a food source in a reef tank to keep them long term, unless you have a pretty big and/or dirty tank. the exception for me has been mussels. i think i have a couple mussels in my red sea max 250 for a few years now. i've had a small oyster go a year or more, but i'm not sure about the quahogs. the little ones bury themselves so fast its hard to keep tabs on them. but i think within 6 months to a year they end up starving.

on that note, i would say its worth it to put a little neck in your tank just to see how fast they can bury themselves. the first time i did it i turned my back on the tank aftter dropping it in and turned back to the tank again a couple seconds later and it was gone! thought i was losing my mind.

 

[radiata]

FWIW, there's a thread on RC that parallels this thread, and is worthy of your read:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/clams-replacing-refugium-as-a-nutrient-export.776840/

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

picked up a 3" derasa clam today, lets see how it goes, still want to get oysters but this is just a 29g tank so i dont want to over do it

 

[Paul B]

I have been putting shellfish in my tanks for decades. It's fun but not really a good Idea long term. They will constantly decline and lose "weight" inside the shell wheree you can't see it. The local shellfish require an enormous amount of food as most of the stuff floating around our local waters isn't really digestible. It will work if you keep changing the shellfish every couple of weeks but unless you keep a really filthy tank, it isn't the best idea, but interesting.

You will be much better with sponges which filter smaller than clams and won't die very fast when they clean up all the water.

My tank is covered in this blue sponge. It filters and is photosynthetic so after the water is clean, it lives on light and doesn't die.
Slightly invasive though.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

derasa is doing great I'll get a picture of him today. he is open and I caught him walking around last night

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

I'm not sure it's a derasa, thinking it might be a squamosa.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

closed up. but this is with the nikon.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]