Water level and livrock/corals

[NightSpirit]

I'm setting up a 12g JBJ nano, and the liverock goes nearly to the top. So if I do a 25% or more waterchange, some of the rock is above the waterlevel for about 10 minutes.

Is it ok for liverock to be temporarily exposed? What about corals?

 

[Jermz79]

Shouldn't be a problem!! I have a 12gal JBJ as well and when I do a PWC, a small portion of my rock is exposed, just make sure it's not a long time!

 

[ZoozFishMaster]

As Jermz said it shouldn't be a problem. I've recently read an article explaining how it is not uncommon for some parts of coral reefs to be exposed to air during low tide...and the corals do fine. I don't think it is a big deal to expose live rock and/or corals for a few minutes during a water change. HTH and Good Luck!

 

[tecwzrd]

As a general rule you want to keep your corals from being exposed to air for the briefest time possible. Unless you are trying to control a nitrate problem I wouldn’t do such large water changes that expose your LR or coral IMO. Smaller water changes once a week of one gal premixed/aerated saltwater should be sufficient to keep your levels stable. (That’s close to 40% a month) If you install a sump/refugium which would make your tank more stable you could just change the water in that which would not expose any of your main tank.

 

[NightSpirit]

Thanks, I was concerned that I was killing the rock.

Perhaps 10% each week will work out, I'll see if everything ends up happy.

 

[seaham358]

This will not hurt the LR in any way. I have been doing this for years on both of my tanks and they are not harmed.
Corals, now that would depend on what type. Like Zoomaster says in the wild this happens daily.
I have buttons, zoos and a galaxia that get exposed on my reef when I do a monthly WC and they are out for maybe 20 min and it has never hurt them.
Remember that LR is shipped out of water and even after being out of water for days it is still live. Granted after days there is some die off but for a short term it will be fine.

 

[AndyH5512]

If you are that concerned, you might feel better if you use a baster to squirt water on the rocks every few minutes until you are done. I agree with everyone else, though. The time it takes to do a water change will not hurt anything as far as the rock goes. The baster (or a cup to pour water) would be a psychological "feel better" thing to do, LOL.