Birds nest out of water

[likwid]

Hey guys,

I was wondering how long a birds nest coral can stay out of water for? I have it at the very top of my tank, but when I do a water change, the water level drops and part of it sticks out of the water. It was out for about 20 minutes while I was preparing my waterchange, and now the top part that was out is turning white. Is that was is causing this?

[sphelps]

most likely, do you keep your lights on during the water change? I'm pretty sure the out of the water for that long shouldn't be an issue but if it's exposed to high lighting and heat for 20 min out of water it may cause problems.

[likwid]

most likely, do you keep your lights on during the water change? I'm pretty sure the out of the water for that long shouldn't be an issue but if it's exposed to high lighting and heat for 20 min out of water it may cause problems.

Ya I do keep my lighting on, and it's metal halide, so I am guessing that is the problem. Do you think it can recover?

[sphelps]

Depends on how bad the damage is, I find birdsnest corals to be pretty sensitive so it might be worth while trimming off any dead parts otherwise algae may start growing on it and cause problems.

[Aquattro]

Agreed. As stated, SPS can be out of water quite a while, but not under MH lighting. If the water leaves tips of anything exposed, turn out the lights for the change window.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

And if ANY algae starts to grow, snap it off right away. I left mine too long and just broke huge chunks off my now diminishing colony last night :(

[justinl]

Instead of turning off the lights for the change you could also just douse the exposed coral with tank water every five minutes or so. As long as it stays wet, I don't think there should be a problem