Exposing corals to AIR/LIGHTS bad during water changes??
 

An issue came up that I never thought about before after talking with the latest TOTM winner. He does weekly 10% water changes and I was wondering if that was an issue with exposing corals to air AND/OR lights. He said his change takes 10-15 mins. , he has only actinics or something on, and the corals slime a bit and that's all.

I never thought about this before. Never read anything about it either. I never thought it an issue. I know... sponges... maybe few things like that are no good exposed to air. But in low tides some corals are cooking in the sun and survive. Is this an issue in a REEF tank??

I personally take 2 hours cleaning etc. till I replace water... I need the lights on so I can see... and with 30% change my water is pretty low.

It is fine, don't worry. Corals deal with this during low tide all the time. Hell, I ship corals dry.

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

They don't deal with it all the time. Those photos are from extreme low tides that only happen a few times a year, and they don't always happen during the day. While its not a problem to expose them for a little while, dropping hte water in your tank for a couple of hours is, in my opinion, asking for losses at one point or another. You can easily shave 1 1/2 hours off of that cleaning time and still get everything done that you need to. Or, maybe set up a shop light over the tank so you still have light but aren't baking the corals under your lights.

I always expose my corals to air when transfering them to my tank, and during large changes they are exposed, but I try and minimize it if and when I can.

Agreed. Exposure to air should be kept to a minimum, for sure.
But I still believe that often times people underestimate how hardy these corals are. I've had SPS colonies, not frags, out of water over night and they were fine. I am not saying I advocate getting the corals out of water for hours and hours at a time, but they are well equipped to handle it.

assuming they are healthy to begin with :thumbsup:

:fun2:

As long as they are exposed for say 15 min or less thats fine but anything more i would worry about them drying out.