I think a coral growout tank and a clam tank are two rather different goals. I wouldn't go so far as to say they're polar opposites, but I think that to do the best of either and be serious about it, you cannot do both at once. I've tried this very thing twice (SPS growout + clams). Both times have ended up in frustration. Take it from me, when you try to do too much at once with a single tank, it yields a lot of frustration.
The best clam tanks I've ever seen have had the front of the tank at an angle, rather than a vertical pane of glass, so that you can look down on the clams from the front of the tank, rather than having to look down through the water surface.
A clam tank could be a lot of fun, as long as you never ever ever get unlucky and get a parasite, and have all healthy clams from day one, and you never ever ever ever ever have a single parameter leave established tolerances in your system. (Oh, did you temperature spike to 84F one day for half an hour? Too bad, kiss your clams goodbye.) Beautiful creatures. Too bad they die so easily. It's almost like you LOOK at them wrong, and they die.
But, I know that others don't share my bad luck with clams. So, whatever you do, good luck and have fun.
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-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
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