[Jayson]

Reef Raf,

The bubbles you are seeing in yuor sand bed are nitrate being converted to nitrogen gas. I beleive that you do need nitrate in your system to maintain good clam growth and health. The experts will agree on the fact that most clams will die of starvation. Last April when I was at a clam farm in Indo I learnt alot about the care of clams. one of the things that was lterally beat into my head was that they need food. You should see the amount of nitrate that they add. They also add some amonia as well. If you guys are interested I will send you a disc of pics from my last visit to see some suppliers in Indo. It has some pics of the clam farm. Wild caught clams will and do bring in pathogens that can cause a tank to suffer fatalites. This is why we only sell farmed clams. these clams are farmed in large vats out of the ocean on land. There has been alot of talk about captive raised fish being purchased over ocean stock. This practise should also be practised for clams and corals as well. To prove the hardiness of captive raised clams I have a good story for you. Here goes. I sent a packages of clams to Quebec via Purolater they sent the package to B.C by mistake. I received the package back 87 hours later all clams were still alive! When I bring in ocean clams I will lose atleast 10 per houndred. I just brought in over 130 farmed clams last week and lost none! Farmed clams are hardier,period!