Air Exposure

M

Meli

I have a little GBTA that decided to hang out near the top of my tank at the very back where it's virtually impossible to remove. I need to do some serious nitrate lowering and would like to do a series of large water changes. I have a 42 gallon tank with a 30 gallon fuge. Right now I can only take out 10 gallons of water and still keep the BTA underwater. How much does it hurt them to be exposted to air for the time it takes to do a water change? I'd like to do 3-4 20-25 gallon water changes over the course of about 1 and half weeks. So, it'd get exposed multiple times. Am I better off disassembling the rock work and moving it to the bottom of the tank each time or will it be alright out in the air? Thanks.

Melissa
 
It would probable be exposed for 5-10 minutes. Probably closer to the 5 minute time frame. I have a 30 gallon sump/fuge so I could pull most of the water I need from there. I had always drained from the tank and refilled through the sump. When we first started saltwater tanks, we were told that was the best approach. Thinking about it now, I would have to assume it was because our sump was small compared to the tank. Since my sump is about the same size as my tank it really makes a lot more sense to drain from the sump first. Problem solved. Thanks!
 
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