How long can corals last out of water safely

[Andrew Schubert]

My tank is a year old and have been battling turf algae for 6 months now. I'm thinking of taking all the rock out and manually removing it all. With that said, I'd have to chisel the rock where my corals have encrusted. How long can corals be out of water to safely remove everything? I have sps, lps, and softies like zoas.

 

[Hemmdog]

My tank is a year old and have been battling turf algae for 6 months now. I'm thinking of taking all the rock out and manually removing it all. With that said, I'd have to chisel the rock where my corals have encrusted. How long can corals be out of water to safely remove everything? I have sps, lps, and softies like zoas.

I’ve done it for 20-30 minutes before and haven’t lost any.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

I’ve done it for 20-30 minutes before and haven’t lost any.

Did you have to dump water on them to keep them moist? Or didn't you have to worry about it?

 

[Hemmdog]

Did you have to dump water on them to keep them moist? Or didn't you have to worry about it?

Some stuff like zoas I didn’t worry about, my acros I kept in a brute with tank water in it so they could stay wet while I was working on other rocks. My acans and lps I used a soaked tank water paper towel draped over them.

 

[Hemmdog]

I wouldn’t try this with euphyllia or anemones. Most likely not mushrooms either.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

I wouldn’t try this with euphyllia or anemones. Most likely not mushrooms either.

Only thing encrusted on r sps and zoas....my euphilies and other lps im pretty sure I could still just pull of it's current rock for the most part

 

[Atu]

You could use fluconazole, worked for me.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bryopsis-cure-my-battle-with-bryopsis-using-fluconazole.285096/

 

[ScottR]

I went to a friend’s home once. He clipped off various SPS and some LPS. He put them in a Rubbermaid container with a wet paper towel on them. By the time I glued them and got them in water, it must’ve been 90 mins. And they all did fine.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

I actually have tried that....elemenated 70 percent but came right back over a course of a month. Drives me nuts, bc I have never had issues with high nutrients. Only run my skimmer 2/7 days just to keep po4 above 0.

 

[Robert McCreary]

I've seen the harvest of acropora corals from Indonesia and Bali, they normally leave the corals out on those white picnic tables for hours at a time . I am sure you can easily leave them out for 20 minutes with no fear of loss and upto 1 hour if you "forgot" just be sure the ambient temp is similar to the tank.

 

[Atu]

I actually have tried that....elemenated 70 percent but came right back over a course of a month. Drives me nuts, bc I have never had issues with high nutrients. Only run my skimmer 2/7 days just to keep po4 above 0.

You have to run it without carbon and overflowing skimmer until its all dead and then some time more. I can't remember the exact timeframe, but it killed my bryopsis after 5 days, hair algae after 10 days, and the turf algae finally died after the second or third week. I left it some more time to make sure. And without water changes, or re dosing if you do so.
This was over a year ago, and none of them returned. But you have to kill all of it.

I did not have a problem with nutrients either, the algae was consuming all of it. I tried to starve it and my corals almost died.

 

[Robert McCreary]

clear

I've seen the harvest of acropora corals from Indonesia and Bali, they normally leave the corals out on those white picnic tables for hours at a time . I am sure you can easily leave them out for 20 minutes with no fear of loss and upto 1 hour if you "forgot" just be sure the ambient temp is similar to the tank.

clarifier for understanding I never been to these places I just watched a video. sorry for any confusion, this was to answer the main headline question not the body details that I shamefully didn't read ;Shamefullyembarrased ill read it now. and im still sure you can have them out of the water longer then 1 hour

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I was fragging some monti’s last year and noticed a chunk that had fallen under my kitchen table several hours later. I threw back in the tank expecting it to die the next day. It’s still alive and thriving in to this day.

 

[Robert McCreary]

I was fragging some monti’s last year and noticed a chunk that had fallen under my kitchen table several hours later. I threw back in the tank expecting it to die the next day. It’s still alive and thriving in to this day.

yeah, considering many corals and anemones can be dry for hours and hours during low tide. anemones even release all of the water in them after so long being in contact with air so they can survive days. also I learned ship barges bringing in anemones ship em dry so that's something to think about also.

 

[brandon429]

Taking your tank apart to manually kill the algae off the rocks is a great idea, but if you do it all at once without mini modeling the kill you risk wasting the effort + time if it grows back again which it commonly does.


Before you work on your whole tank pick a single example Rock, do what you will to it, and make it comply independently sustained for weeks before you upscale it to the whole tank


A method that you might find works really well is not brushing at all but using a steak knife tip and edge to actually score and unanchor it, rinse away, then in the clean spot put peroxide on it and let it sit for several minutes to burn leftovers.

Look at the work in this thread specifically taking tanks apart and ridding brush algae:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...rk-skip-cycle-reassembly.525310/#post-5473428

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello.

I would be curious as to your plan of action. Disrupting the ecosystems isn’t always ideal. Have you tried using even uvc steralizers. Even the low ones should eliminate alage and stage 1 and 2 will definitely kill it. Dosing chemicals isn’t ideal and usually makes one constantly do it. For example I have to dose nopox but now I always have to because it’s addictive. Alage can lay dormant till it’s habitat suits it’s needs. If you keep dosing etc then stop it’s going to come back. Even if you scrub the rocks you won’t get all of it, and when conditions are better it will once again grow and seed and come back.

I’d look at maybe getting at least 50 Watts uv steralizer in there and still dose what your doing and then wing it off and then dose the bare minimum of your water volume. It’s still not ideal because you have to use chemical, but it can mutate and get use to the chemical. Which is why we use the uv steralizer to kill it and the chemical to keep it down as it gives the steralizer time to catch up.

Another thing is and I’m so bad at as well is not cleaning power heads etc. they get algae on them and it spreads into you tank. I don’t have any on my rocks but definitely have some on them. Which I need to do a vinegar bath on them so I don’t have an out break as well. The idea is to find the root cause and eliminating them instead of trying other options or it’s a constant fight.

 

[Atu]

Hello.

I would be curious as to your plan of action. Disrupting the ecosystems isn’t always ideal. Have you tried using even uvc steralizers. Even the low ones should eliminate alage and stage 1 and 2 will definitely kill it. Dosing chemicals isn’t ideal and usually makes one constantly do it. For example I have to dose nopox but now I always have to because it’s addictive. Alage can lay dormant till it’s habitat suits it’s needs. If you keep dosing etc then stop it’s going to come back. Even if you scrub the rocks you won’t get all of it, and when conditions are better it will once again grow and seed and come back.

I’d look at maybe getting at least 50 Watts uv steralizer in there and still dose what your doing and then wing it off and then dose the bare minimum of your water volume. It’s still not ideal because you have to use chemical, but it can mutate and get use to the chemical. Which is why we use the uv steralizer to kill it and the chemical to keep it down as it gives the steralizer time to catch up.

Another thing is and I’m so bad at as well is not cleaning power heads etc. they get algae on them and it spreads into you tank. I don’t have any on my rocks but definitely have some on them. Which I need to do a vinegar bath on them so I don’t have an out break as well. The idea is to find the root cause and eliminating them instead of trying other options or it’s a constant fight.

I have to clarify some things.
First of all, the water is a chemical, the salt is a chemical, the oxygen, the chlorophyll, the calcium carbonate, they are all chemicals. There isn’t matter in this universe which isn’t a chemical. So saying “don’t add chemicals” doesn’t mean anything.

Secondly, nopox isn’t addictive, where did you read that?? It’s just a carbon source for bacteria to eat, you could use vinegar or vodka and save some money instead of buying it.
If you stop dosing, the population of bacteria that you have wouldn’t have enough food so they would decline, changing the way nutrients are consumed in your tank. Maybe that’s what you mean?
But NOT addictive, at all!
I mean, maybe if you drink the vodka instead of dosing it...

And lastly, treatments are many times a one off thing. Fluconazole for instance is a once off. It completely changed my tank. I think nothing I’ve done was so significant for my tank as that.
I went from a algae farm to a tank where I’ve so much coral growth I don’t not know what to do with it.
I’ve pocillopora problems now instead of algae problems.

 

[brandon429]

The trick is communicating that success to a challenge tank, what we do at home with full control gets easier over time. This is why work threads are so handy n fun, it's literally 100% other people's efforts collected using a given method

 

[Sarah24!]

I have to clarify some things.
First of all, the water is a chemical, the salt is a chemical, the oxygen, the chlorophyll, the calcium carbonate, they are all chemicals. There isn’t matter in this universe which isn’t a chemical. So saying “don’t add chemicals” doesn’t mean anything.

Secondly, nopox isn’t addictive, where did you read that?? It’s just a carbon source for bacteria to eat, you could use vinegar or vodka and save some money instead of buying it.
If you stop dosing, the population of bacteria that you have wouldn’t have enough food so they would decline, changing the way nutrients are consumed in your tank. Maybe that’s what you mean?
But NOT addictive, at all!
I mean, maybe if you drink the vodka instead of dosing it...

And lastly, treatments are many times a one off thing. Fluconazole for instance is a once off. It completely changed my tank. I think nothing I’ve done was so significant for my tank as that.
I went from a algae farm to a tank where I’ve so much coral growth I don’t not know what to do with it.
I’ve pocillopora problems now instead of algae problems.

Hello,

Okay since you want to put it that way, when does the ocean dose anything to reduce alage in natural reefs? Show me scientific proof! We dose chemicals in a closed loop system, to help balance our particular reef. Yet, most people don’t find the root of the problem. Also nopox is addictive it’s just like vodka and it’s addictive to humans aka (it’s called alcoholism, and corals are actual organisms that can and or will become addictive to their habitat and or ecosystems. For further reference read page 6 of the directions of Redsea nopox no3 no4 and pay close attention to the extreme detail they have laid out.

But let’s be correct one oxygen is a gas not a chemical, according to periodic table salt is a mineral! Chlorophyll is an actual pigment (need I go on)!! Wait that’s not all carbon is an actual chemical usually listed with the label C.

Prove to me alcohol isn’t addictive, or organisms do not become addictive to an unknown source they are not naturally exposed to. Nobody is doubting your a great reefer etc it was never mentioned (or thought of actually), however you have an algae problem because of what exactly? Have you been able to determine that and or did you decide to dose this because you were tired of it. Regardless it’s your tank (you can do anything you like) but the whole point was you asking help. Your still going to have this problem later on even if you dose this. Unless you find the reason behind the problem this is a temp fix and does nothing good for your ecosystem.

 

[Andrew Schubert]

Hello,

Okay since you want to put it that way, when does the ocean dose anything to reduce alage in natural reefs? Show me scientific proof! We dose chemicals in a closed loop system, to help balance our particular reef. Yet, most people don’t find the root of the problem. Also nopox is addictive it’s just like vodka and it’s addictive to humans aka (it’s called alcoholism, and corals are actual organisms that can and or will become addictive to their habitat and or ecosystems. For further reference read page 6 of the directions of Redsea nopox no3 no4 and pay close attention to the extreme detail they have laid out.

But let’s be correct one oxygen is a gas not a chemical, according to periodic table salt is a mineral! Chlorophyll is an actual pigment (need I go on)!! Wait that’s not all carbon is an actual chemical usually listed with the label C.

Prove to me alcohol isn’t addictive, or organisms do not become addictive to an unknown source they are not naturally exposed to. Nobody is doubting your a great reefer etc it was never mentioned (or thought of actually), however you have an algae problem because of what exactly? Have you been able to determine that and or did you decide to dose this because you were tired of it. Regardless it’s your tank (you can do anything you like) but the whole point was you asking help. Your still going to have this problem later on even if you dose this. Unless you find the reason behind the problem this is a temp fix and does nothing good for your ecosystem.

First, it was me who posted this question. Anyways, I still have a bottle of reef flux laying around so may try it again, and then pull the rock out at the end of whatever is left.i ran it for 3 weeks last time. Also, I am already running a pentair 40 watt UV sterilizer. And yes I turned it off and removed the carbon last time I tried reef flux.