Water Change Large

[fishguy56]

Is it ok for any of the corals to be out of the water when doing a large water change for a short period of time? Maybe 15 minutes!! Thanks for any suggestions.
TF

 

[jhutto]

Have zoos, xenia and Montis out of the water for water changes and no problem. Not sure of other corals.

 

[chull13]

I wouldn't think 15 minutes would be a problem. Probably want to make sure they stay wet. Dump a little tank water on them every 5 minutes of so.

 

[skriz]

they'll be fine as long as your lighting is turned off; otherwise, you could burn them.

 

[steve]

I leave my lighting on all the time. They're exposed for 5-10 minutes. Monti's and a very expensive Red City of Atlantis frag are exposed the whole time.

 

[fishguy56]

Thanks i always do early in the morning with the lights off and they will not be more than 15 minutes I do a wtaer change pretty fast pump it out and then pump it right back in. I do have a 45 gallon sump but its a little hard to pump it out of. Thanks for all the imput!
TF

 

[jeep9783]

Just as dawg said corals in the wild especillay SPS are out of water for long periods of time (aka slimer b/c they create slim to try to keep there self wet while out of water at low and high tide) It wil be fine...I have left an sps out of water for dmore than an hour after fragging (forgot to put back in the frag tank) went back put it back in and it was fine pissed but fine.

Chris

 

[soarin']

I saw an article where the author was fascinated by tidepools in Hawaii and the abundant and diverse life there, so he created a refugium tank that had high and low "tides" using a pump.

His zoas are out of water for a "low tide" of 2 hours at a time , but says that they are out of water for up to 5 hours in nature with no problems.

As long as you don't go to bed with the corals out of the water I think you are fine.

Here's an article by Eric Borneman in reefkeeping magazine about how he found that he had better results shipping coral with just a damp paper on them than submerged in water -- the paper allowed high oxgen transport through the coral's mucus. He says that he has had no problems with corals left out of water for a while -- he would get polyp extension as soon as he put them back in the water:

 

[skriz]

Yes, in nature they are fine out of the water for extended periods of time.

My only concern is the heat. If you are running halides, the heat that they will put directly on the corals may cause damage. I've had it happen to one of my corals (although, I am running 400's).

 

[derek_s]

Some corals even get shipped out of water! I have gotten zoas that were just wrapped in wet newspaper. Worked just fine!

Just hope you never get a fish this way....