How long can sps be out of water?

[aslmx]

l want to remove some rock to clean the bubble algae off. How long can I keep it out of water?

 

[Kajung2k]

There are sps colonies that live in shallow waters. So shallow that at low tide they have no water covering.

 

[Tahoe61]

I have left mine out for as long as 5-10 minutes, just do not let the tissue dry.

 

[kendavjac]

Should be good 10 minutes

 

[TUSI]

Just squirt them with water if you have to.

 

[Sabellafella]

I left a rack out 2 weeks ago for almost 3 hours , all the validas and staghorns survived but a few unknowns were dryd to a bone so i just threw them out, i give it 20 minutes the most 15 to be safe

 

[aslmx]

Thanks a lot. I've watched the figi video before but I like to get some actual experiences from other people.

 

[ermartin]

l want to remove some rock to clean the bubble algae off. How long can I keep it out of water?

Longer than you would think. I got some corals shipped to me a while back and one of the bags had completely broken open. there was nothing in the bag but saltwater sweat. no telling how long it was that way Im guessing at least from the time it loaded on the final truck till it got to my house so had to have been 4 hours at least. stuck it straight into my tank and 24hrs later it became one of my favorite pieces in my tank.... When i do a water change the top 1/4 of my tank is drained for 10 plus min without issue. if your worried why not do a water change and use the water you remove in a 5gal bucket and scrub the rock in there ?

 

[bobman]

I have had frags out for an hour or more with no issues but try to get them back in the water as quickly as possible. I have even had a leather out of the water for an hour as I had a heck of a time sticking it to a rock and eventually decided to use a sowing needle and thread and tie it to a rock. I was out of water for a very long time and was just fine.

 

[ritter6788]

I did a tank move and left most of my acros out in the air for 3-4 hours with no issues. The montis and birdsnest didn't fare as well. They recovered but were damaged from sitting out too long. Acros secrete a good slime that protects them.

 

[brandon429]

20 mins was my best

 

[Oscaror]

SPS coat themselves in slime to keep their tissue wet, most SPS can handle a few hours. Acros can survive days out of water, they commonly do on reefs when the tide lowers and they're left exposed to the air. Fascinating really, that SPS survive better in air than in some of our (mine) tanks

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

As long as they stay wet, I'd bet they can last quite a while. The native Gulf of Mexico corals on my aquacultured live rock survived in the box for 5 days!

 

[Salty1962]

Depends on coral type. For what your going to do you should be fine. I've had my LR out with corals on it for up to 20 min cleaning the LR of algae.

 

[WilRams]

Don't forget corals are shipped in wet newspaper sometimes!

 

[moray69]

I always worry about air movement from any fans in the room cooling the coral to much when they are out of the water.

 

[RobbieMVFC]

IMO it depends on the type of corals. Some deep water Acros or Montis need as least amount of time as possible (10/15 mins will be fine. Other species that are found in less the 10m of water can tolerate more air time.

 

[Salty1962]

I always worry about air movement from any fans in the room cooling the coral to much when they are out of the water.

You definitely don't want fans blowing on the corals.

 

[pokkaii]

I personally have done 15-20 minutes out of water for acroporas and they all recover from the ordeal. Now the better question is... are you able to tolerate the smell of acro slime in the air =D

 

[flounder]

Depends how much you paid ;-)
Those expensive frags always handle less it seems.