[tikki50]

Hi

At our last frag fest I picked up a small frag of sps. I orginally had it about 11" from the lights and the very top section of it always appeared healthy. During feeding times only the top section would extend tenticles and lower section would do nothing and was turning brown. I did some aquascaping and moved it closer to the top and gave it more current. Its now only about 6" from the lights and only 2-3" from the surface. It's really picked up some color and the entire sps now has much better extension, its appears much happier with more light. Crazy a few inches matters that much. Anyways, I now have a small dilemma when I do water changes the top half of the sps will be out of the water. I know to turn the lights off etc. but Im a bit worried that prolonged exposure to air will kill it especially repeated exposure over time. Should I move it back down? or will it be ok for a minute or 2 out of the water. I thought of changing the water differently (see below) so it doesnt have to be exposed to air at all but that will be difficult. Pumping fresh water in while I extract water out. doing small water changes, etc. Hummmm....

I have an old 20 gallon tank I was going to use for mixing saltwater and doing water changes throughout the week. Nice small ones that are easy to do 2-4 gallons. I wanted to mix say 10-12 gallons enough to last maybe 1-2 weeks in water changes. Can I just leave the mixed water in the tank for that long without any tonxin bulidup. 2 weeks would be a while and might even start a cycle [-bigeyes2. This would help me with my problem listed above because I could then do smaller water changes and the sps would never be out of the water. Thanks.


I read this the other day as well

Most kits that measure nitrate are
expressed as NO3-N which is the most commonly given, but some express it as just NO3. If
your kit is as NO3 then divide by 4.4, which is then 6.8 ppm NO3-N. Try and strive for
1-2 ppm or lower.

I didnt know that nitrate was expressed in nitrogen or ion, (I think). I will have to check my test and see which one I have. Either way mine is still to high. 15 or 3.4 still a bit to high. Hence my larger water change problem Im faced with. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[hjmtv]

If it is exposed to air repeatidly, it's going to die. Move it down slightly, I would think.

The water will keep but you should keep it moving. (throw in a cheap powerhead) You should put a loose cover on it as well so nothing falls/drifts in.

 

[tikki50]

yeah I have a powerhead and heater for it. Should it be kept in a dark area void of light?

 

[hollywood85]

IMO, I think it would be ok. A few minutes a couple times a month won't kill it. What about low tides on the reefs? SPS are more durable than people think.....

 

[tikki50]

Thats what I was thinking. Sps grow in very shallow waters. I think I will do the 20 gallon watermix with smaller water changes weekly. What if I set the 20 up a fuge and used it for the water changes would that be too much for the fuge to handle ? A 4 gal change every week. I guess I could then mix up new water and place it in the fuge. I dont know that much about fuges. Would they produce nitrates like my main tank? Do they need the same filtration or would a small powerhead to alright. It atleast would start to grow food for the tank and the water change would really benefit the main display.

 

[Newts]

I've read that at low tide corals can be exposed for like 4 hours or so, and that is sometimes in the middle of the day with full sun shining. I don't think you'll have any problems with it. Corals will produce a slim coating when exposed at low tide that protects it from the suns rays.

 

[wingsfan]

Set the 20 up for your fuge then do the water changes in that , then the water level in your display tank will never be low. Since it is tied into the display tank you will already have the filtration from the main tank. Throw some macro algea in the fuge for nitrate export and you will also have a place for pods to grow to feed the main tank.

 

[tikki50]

Not quite that easy! I dont really have a sump. My sump is integrated into the main tank it sits in the corner 6" x 6" and houses my pumps, carbon, phosban, etc. The 20 has no way of connecting to it. My last tank used this 20 as a sump and all it did was overflow. So this time I decided to keep the sump inside the tank, that way it can never overflow, I think that was poor judgement now either way I have to live with it. Kinda nice because its so compact like a nano. My thought was set the 20 up as a fuge and just use that water for water changes, that would work right?

 

[hjmtv]

I don't believe you will find sps in a tidal pool or anywhere where they will be exposed to prolonged air. That's why we need divers to harvest them. I would move it down.

 

[Russ K]

I think a 5% water change every week is your best bet. It makes for a more stable tank and it gives you peace of mind that your not killing your sps. I try to do 10% every two weeks and am thinking of changing to weekly. I just fill my sump to the top then drain out the water to the level I want. I don't think adding the water first does the same thing as after you remove old water but non the less I change water just the same.

 

[Dazureus]

Depending where the coral came from, it could be exposed to prolonged periods of air when the tide moves out. It doensn't need to be in a tide pool for this condition to occur. For a great picture of an entire reef flat exposed to the full day sun in air look at page xii (very begining) of Corals of the world Volume 1 by Jen Veron. Here's another picture supporting this thought

http//www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/smgbr/smgbr12.html

and here

http//www.kmec.uhh.hawaii.edu/palmyra/corals.htm

Now despite this phenomena, is it something we want to reproduce in our tanks? Probably not. As most of us know, corals have the ability to produce a mucosal layer that protects it from drying out of short periods of time. Most of the southeast Asian area experiences diurnal tides, meaning one high and one low tide during one tidal cycle. I believe the tidal cycles in these areas are around 24 hours. Now of course the coral exposed are only so at low tide, so it might only be for an hour or two at most during this tidal cycle. So to answer your question, it is probably okay that the coral is exposed for short periods of time as long as it is only a short period of time.

 

[tikki50]

well I think im going to setup this 20 as a sump/fuge. Since I dont have a dsb I will add one in the 20 to get some going until I change out the substrate in the 40. That way I wont have to worry about this whole water change issue. Any suggestions on the fuge? I need to get an overflow box now, suggestions on this would be great too. Im not going to get the tank drilled because in the future it would make a great sump ) for a larger tank.

Thanks for the link Daz very interesting. Although I have enough trouble keeping my stuff alive without taking it out of the water.

 

[reef120]

tikki50

Most SPS will be OK if exposed out of the water for a few minutes as long as you dont have your MH cooking them while exposed, this will dry them out and can cause some RTN. This is kinda funny but I usallly completly take out Millipora colony completly out of the water for 5-10 minutes every time I do my tank cleaning on my nano every few weeks since the colony has almost outgrown my 18 gallon nano it make's it pretty hard to clean the tank unless I take a few SPS out of the water so I can work. I have always done this and caused no harm. Remember some if your SPS are exposed to complete sunlight for hours a day as the tide rises and lowers. There are many articles on this if you do your research.

 

[tikki50]

thanks for the tip reef120