How long can SPS be out of H2O?

[blender02]

How long can SPS be out of H2O? I have a Montipora Cap. and an ORA Green Birdsnest that have grown so big that when i do my weekly water change they are out of the water. How long is safe to keep them out?

Also, my Montipora cap (red in color) has slowly been bleaching over the last two months but is growing like a weed! Any suggestions to get the color back? It's about 10" underneath 6 T5 39 watt lights. I have 3 Actinic and 3 10000k bulbs. Thanks.

 

[evsalty]

IME healthy SPS can usually be ok up to 30 minutes.

The bleaching could be from it getting closer to the light if it is cupping at all or you alk could be getting a tad on the low side. For me it was at 5 dkh that my monti's took a hit.

 

[Bedroomgangsta]

Depending on the size of your sump if you run one, and the size of your DT you could just do a little sifting of the sand in the DT and do the main WC out of the sump....You could avoid any air exposure completely....depending on the size of sump, and WC's you like to do, and how often...etc.

 

[Pallobi]

imo, the less time the better, and the faster you can get them back in water, the safer... sure they may be able to last a little bit, but why push it any longer than need be... i had a stag out of water for about 20 mins one time, and it greatly effected its color and polyp extension until it healed up about 10 to 15 days later... it took quite the hit... of course some sps are much more hardier than others, and some dont like even a few mins from what i have found... GL with you future water changes friend

 

[blender02]

Thanks for the info. I've had them out of the water for about 3 min. and I didn't see any harm but I just wanted to make sure. As for the comment on the Monipora: It is scrolling. I'll check tank readings tonight. Thanks.

 

[psusocr]

when the tide goes out on a reef in the ocean sps are exposed to air for along time with the sun beating on them and they are fine. Ive had sps out of the water for awhile( upwards of an hour) , just misting them with a spray bottle occasionally and they were fine. I dont do this regularly but if they are exposed for 30 minutes on a water change i think there is nothing to worry about and ive actually read articles that it is good for the skeleton.

 

[LifeAquatic]

Lots of corals can survive out of water for HRS in the ocean reefs. Not sure how hardy our captive raised SPS do outside of water for very long. Here is a link to an intersting article about dry shipping coral and coral reefs at low tide. You will see pics of huge acropora out of the water baking in the sun.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/eb/index.php

 

[flyyyguy]

a lot of it has to do with your ambient room temp as well, as if it drastically different than your tank water, you will be potentially doing massive differences fast when you put it back in

for instance, if you have an air conditioned room or fish room, you need to be real careful you dont drop the core temp of that coral too far, before cramming it right back into its warmer water. Thinner branching/thinner plating corals are of course more prone to problems with this as their core temp changes much faster. This is actually a pretty big deal for me as I have multiple large systems, and dont run chillers. I just run a a/c on the room to 65 degrees and fans as its much cheaper. (wash on electricity but thousands less in equipment)

as well, if you are one to keep your water temp at exacty the same all of the time, whenever you do any kind of temp changes your corals will be less resilient when it happens.

Those corals in the ocean that can take it for hours are not only regularly used to being exposed, they are also used to pretty decent daily swings in just the water

 

[ct_vol]

I'm not going to repeat whathas already been covered. One thing to keep in mind is the sliming that occurs after you fill the tank back up... Make sure you have enough flow and good filtration to deal with that as well... I used to expose my corals to the air all the time and it was of no consequence... I have even had a frag bag punctured and the SPS remained w/o water for 6-8 hrs... After throwing it in my tank it was fine the next morning...

 

[Ostentum]

Had an order where 2 bags busted and sat at fed ex for over a day. The two that were out of water were the two that survived, everything else RTNd. Cant quite explain it except that maybe the slim coat protected the frag and let it breath while the frags in the water ran out of O2. Makes for an interesting discussion though