What to do with Corals............

fishobsessed · 01-30-2007, 10:06 AM

I was planning to fill up the top area of my tank with corals,

so i can hide all my pump hoses & such,but what should i do when i do a h20 change?

I usually do a 10% h20 change every wk, the level of the h20 goes down, should i remove the corals from the top of the tank during my h20 change so their not exposed to air?I heard theyll die if so.

And will this movement harm them?

Radom · 01-30-2007, 11:29 AM

After a while the coral will attach itself to the surrounding rock. moving them frequently is something you want to avoid. Also my topmost coral is around 6" below waterline so even when I do my water change its never exposed to the air. Frequent movement might stress coral and make it lose its pigmentation for example or it will retract and stay that way for some time. Its hard to say that movement itself will always cause stress but you do not want to move them too frequently.

fishobsessed · 01-30-2007, 02:04 PM

Maybe i shouldnt place too close to the top of the aquarium then,thanks Radom

Timmy2Hands · 01-31-2007, 05:35 PM

You would be surprised to find how resilient corrals can be. In the wild, tides come and go everyday, many shallow reefs are exposed to the air for several hours without any ill effects. The secret is to not allow your corrals to dry out.
I don't think that the few minutes that it takes to do a water change will harm anything in your tank. Just My Opinion.

fishobsessed · 02-01-2007, 01:56 PM

Gotcha T2H,thanks for your advice!