It's a really tough call and question.
I will snap a picture of what I am encountering with my big squamosa.
Here is the honest to god un edited story.
Set up:
40 gallon tank, with 15 ish gallon sump. 2200gph pump t'd off to reduce flow to tank. Red Sea pryism, Coral life Calcium reactor with #2 figi coral rubble, 20lb Cylinder run with a reef keeper 2 controler and ph probe. Hagen Fluval 304canister filter as a nitrate engine and Carbon Filter. Lighting is a 250w 14000k Dual ended HQI, with two 55 w dual t5 strip lites 10000k actinic combo. The tank depth is 16". Temperature control set at 80 with a 1F varriance.
Chemistry:
KH floats between 180-200 ppm daily.
Calcium levels can not get above 380ppm.
Mg, St, Mb dosing with out testing.
Periodic Iodine dose (lugols)
also Dose on biweekly with Salifert Sort Coral complete trace (for Mushrooms)
Ph 8.2, Phosphates 0 (heavy use of phosphate ion exchage resign)
Nitrates use to sit at about 20-30 ppm (will get into that later).
Live Stock: (don't hurt me, it's over stocked!)
15 clams. 1 Squamosa-10 inch
1 gold Maxima- 10 inch
1 Blue Crocea- 7 inch
3 blue crocea- 3-4 inch
1 Dersa- 5 inch(ish)
1 Tiger pasley ultra maxima (4-5 inch)
2 blue ultra maxima's- 3-4 inch
2 gold Maxima's- two inch
2 Squamosa- one inch
1 Gold Maxima one inch
2 two stripe clowns
1 fire Clown
1 mandrin gobie
2 histrix gobies
2 blue azure damsels
1 six line wrass
2 Flame scallops
3 feather dusters
2 coco worms
tuns of button pollyups
tuns of mushrooms (red, blue, green, green stripe)
Green Plate
3 open brains
1 button coral
2 pink Torch corals
1 hydrophora (spelling don't know like a acropora??but not)
1 Pink tip Acropra (don't know the exact species)
huge Chalace coral
brain coral
New orange monapora who's exact name leaves me.
encrusting montapora
Algae eating hermits
2 Golden Eels
Im sure there are other frags that I forgot about.
I think that's most of the stuff in the tank though.
Ok here is the scoop. I try to remember to feed the Plankton and phyto plankton, nanocropsis ect every other day. I have stripped as much as possible macro algae (there only a small bush of green wire that reminds me of pubic hair... I thought that would be funny with all the "clams" Sorry laddies im a little bent
)
I try to over feed daily to keep nitrates up to no success. The nitrates use to sit at around 10-30 ppm now are un measurable.
Here is the problem. My larges Squamosa started to loose color. Kinda pasty looking even though there is at lease 3/4 inch shell production since October 20th (the day i turned on my reactor, and yes I actually measure it).
All the clams look healthy for the most part. no pinched mantle, no snails ect. They open, move, react to light every thing! EXCEPT A WHITE CIRCLE on the big squamosa. I left it alone for about 3 months. All the while the nitrates zero. The white spot got larger and larger and started to appear on the other side of the mantle. So, I did a bunch of research using refrences from a thesis paper on bleached clams.
All of which lead to the reduction of the replacement zoanthae from their uptake. Which, is how the clams use the light to produce food when not filterfeeding.
At first I turned off my protien skimmer and cranked up the phytoplankton. No change in color loss.
Then as before mentioned took water from preadator tank and hiked nitrates to 10-15 ppm. Within hours a gues aquaium geek pointed out that the squamosa was looking brighter then the day before, unprovoked! The Clam contiunes to improve in color density since this sunday (Feb22 when i dosed the tank with nitrates).
The end goal, I think... with adding nitrates is to turn around the color loss with the squamosa (my baby, pride and joy!) and prevent further color loss with other clams (it happened in one other only, a crocea that was different)
And to do it with a more constient controled way. I hope to support the nitrate waste from the fish (which is clearly not enough in this case) to keep it around 10-20 ppm in hopes to maintain healthy clams in an envriroment that has high competition.
Also, I have a dream to go to a larger clam tank with a large Gigas. I expect this will greatly increase the demand on the tank so I hope to kinda "perfect" the application of dosing sodium nitrate now.
Well, that's the theory in any event.
Anyone who has any thought on this please post it. Trust me I welcome any idea or opinion.
thanks, I know that was a big post.