Water Changes with High SPS?

[Stanley-Reefer]

I would say if you can change water without exposing them that would be best.

That pic of the low tide was an extreme oddity and all those pictured died. Diff is they weren't bought!!!! Take care of your investment and attention to detail.

 

[seapug]

Short periods of exposure are okay (15 minutes or so), but there is often extensive damage when the reefs in those pictures above are exposed for a day or more during celestial low tides.

 

[downhillbiker]

I think that having lights off during this time is a good idea, but air exposure will be fine for moderate periods of time.

For heaven's sake we take corals out of the tank and chop them up, why not expose them to air for a few while doing a water change.

 

[chort55]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15669103#post15669103 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by downhillbiker
I think that having lights off during this time is a good idea, but air exposure will be fine for moderate periods of time.

For heaven's sake we take corals out of the tank and chop them up, why not expose them to air for a few while doing a water change.

+1 Just kind of makes ya want to say... DUH lol Not to mention when they are collected, they are often exposed to air, when the colonies collected are fraged to be shipped to LFS they are exposed to air, when they are unpackaged and placed in holding tanks for sale they are exposed to air, we expose them to air during tank changes, trying to catch a pesky fish, etc. etc. etc. I have a couple pieces of sponge that was exposed to air for 2+ hours and they are just fine.

BTW, some actually suggest exposing them to air once in a while to make them hardier and more tolerant to air exposure to keep them healthy during times like the above stated.

 

[greenbean36191]

Those linkias in the youtube video are exposed to air, but who knows if they survived. There are probably linkias dying with every low tide on that beach.

Why would they die? Echinoderms are not sensitive to air exposure.

That pic of the low tide was an extreme oddity and all those pictured died.

Huh? Aerial exposure is fairly common on shallow reefs. Except for extreme low tides that occur at midday there usually isn't much mortality.

BTW, some actually suggest exposing them to air once in a while to make them hardier and more tolerant to air exposure to keep them healthy during times like the above stated.

Another huh? Corals deal with exposure by producing more mucus. They don't get any better at it with practice. They just waste more energy.

 

[chort55]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15669571#post15669571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191

Another huh? Corals deal with exposure by producing more mucus. They don't get any better at it with practice. They just waste more energy.

Its kind of a huh too as to why we take things out of the ocean and they die/ don't do well/ PE isn't as good as in nature in our tanks that are supposed to be "perfect" to, huh?? LOL

I find it amazing that in nature salinity fluctuates quite frequently, yet in our tanks if it fluctuates we often have issues... makes ya just wanna say huh doesn't it

 

[stealle]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15669571#post15669571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
Why would they die? Echinoderms are not sensitive to air exposure.

I do not claim to be an expert nor do I speak from experience, however I have read in numerous sources that Linckias are not a hardy species (at least in captivity). Perhaps this is not the case in the wild. Linckias in captivity will die with sudden changes in oxygen, exposure to air, ph, salinity... so I have read.

I'd love to have one. Do you know how to keep them alive in captivity? Every time I've seen a pic of one in one of the forums in someones tank, someone always comes along and says "to bad it won't last." And sure enough it dies. Most believe it just can't handle any form of transportation or acclimation (which usually involves some sort of air exposure, changes in O2, pH, etc.).

 

[greenbean36191]

Yes, Linckia are fragile, but it has absolutely nothing to do with air exposure, regardless of how many people say it. Hobbyists repeat lots of other ridiculous things to the point that they're accepted as truth. Unless they're allowed to dry out, there is no mechanism by which air hurts them.

There are 2 main reasons they are hard to keep. First is that they're sensitive to quick changes in salinity. They've already been put into at least 4 different systems by the time you go to buy them at the LFS, and most of those people don't know or care enough to acclimate them properly. The vast majority of them start to show initial signs of their decline within 2 weeks of coming in. Oddly enough though, if you collect them in the wild yourself and eliminate the long chain of custody and series of acclimations they don't die within the first 2 weeks, regardless of whether you expose them to air.

If they make it past the first month the next big killer is a lack of food. We don't know what they eat, but the best guess is that it's components of the biofilm that forms on hard surfaces. That means they need lots of surface area to graze. In smaller tanks they last about 1-1.5 years before they show signs of decline, which is about how long sea stars can go without eating. In large tanks, if they survive the initial month in good shape they usually do well for a very long time and sometimes reproduce.

These things are not impossible to keep long term. Lots of hobbyists have done it, but they tend to have 3 things in common. They start out with healthy animals, they have large, established tanks, and they acclimate them carefully.

 

[sra127]

i have gsp, 2 birdnests, dendro, monti's, zoos and elkhorn exposed to air when i do water changes.....havent bothered them single bit.