Exposed corals during water changes

[Dingo Dog]

During water changes, leaving our corals exposed to the air for a brief time isn't that big of a deal. However, since it's winter and the air temps are cooler, should that be a concern or not? My water temp is at 77 but my house temp is more like 72. Is that too much of a change in temperature for the 5 to 10 minutes the corals are exposed to the cooler air?

[rigleautomotive]

no problem,my acros are exposed to ambient air temp of 67 degrees for 15 minutes every week.i do weekly 25 percent water changes and have done so with no apparent ill effects for years.

[vanmo92]

I would not worry about it, but If it were me I would try to keep the air exposure time to a minimum, although it probrobly doesnt matter all that much.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I prefer to do automatic water changes with a dual head pump that does not change to total system volume during the change.

[lockus]

It happenes in nature all the time. Just try to expose the coral to the air as little as possible. Some sponges are vrey sensetive to exposure to air. If you have bought any be sure they are not exposed just to be safe.





http://www.ryanphotographic.com/imag...%20Islands.jpg

[m1enbo1]

when i do water changes only the water level in my refugium drops, not the main tank

[m2434]

Originally posted by lockus
It happenes in nature all the time. Just try to expose the coral to the air as little as possible. Some sponges are vrey sensetive to exposure to air. If you have bought any be sure they are not exposed just to be safe.





http://www.ryanphotographic.com/imag...%20Islands.jpg

I think the question was more with regards to temperature.
The temp change is not really a problem for most corals. On a reef temperatures can swing substantially for short periods with little ill effect, if any. It is sustained exposure that may be problematic.

I think being out of the water will be more stressful for most corals, although some don't seem to care... I don't know if the stress could be compounded because they are both out of the water and at low temp. Personally, I just do everything I can to keep my corals in the water.

[MikeD]

How do you manage to do the automatic water changes? Can you have it take out 40 gal and put in 40 automatically? How do you prevent overflowing etc? You just sparked my interest!

Originally posted by Randy Holmes-Farley
I prefer to do automatic water changes with a dual head pump that does not change to total system volume during the change.

[LobsterOfJustice]

What about exposing feather dusters and tridacna clams?

[supervdl]

Not sure about feather dusters, but clams definitly shoul stay submerged as far as I know. With corals no problem. They are exposed in my system with no ill effect.

[Ehaze]

Amazing pictures Lock... That is so neat.

[reefCrawler]

even coral temp. exposed in air is not a problem.
Set a refugim tank, problem solved!

[tkeracer619]

Originally posted by MikeD
How do you manage to do the automatic water changes? Can you have it take out 40 gal and put in 40 automatically? How do you prevent overflowing etc? You just sparked my interest!

You use a dual head peristaltic pump. One head pumps in, one out.

Basically you don't do 40 gallons at a time. you do ml by ml 24/7.

Since both heads work of the same motor, if the motor craps out, both stop. Its up to you to make sure the tubing is changed out per manufacturer specs.

I'm setting mine up now, it holds 90G in RO, 100G in the mixing vat, 220G in the salt water storage vat, and will pump about 7 gallons per day through the system. My particular setup can be adjusted from 1gpd to all 220G in one day, just press a few buttons. If something stupid were to happen and I need to do a lot of water changes, I could sustain ~150 gallon daily(40%) water changes untill I run out of salt. It also has a nice calibration feature to see how close both heads are running to each other.

[virginiadiver69]

tkeracer619, what specific equipment/pumps are you using. I like this idea.