How long for "low tide"?
 

I'm going to be moving my 24 gal tank to another stand in the same room, and I was wondering how long it is safe to be in 'low tide' mode.

Thanks,

well although this is an arguable subject, imo as little time as possible is best. Coral reefs are completely exposed to the air on a regular basis for hours at a time due to the tides and are fine. However, I dont think i know many people in the hobby who wuold take that kind of risk with their own investments. If I were you, I would carefully plan out the move, and throughout the move, try not to allow long air exposures by basting the corals with tank water every ten or so minutes.

I've had my tank exposed in a truck for an hour, everything was fine. I would try to keep it to less than half of that though. Proper planning should allow you to move and not have everything dry for more than 30 minutes.

Yeah, I think I should be able to manage that. Thanks guys!

If you you LPS get them to retract before draining the water.

Hmm, well I didn't really do that, but I drained pretty slow. At any rate, everything went smoothly and doesn't look like there are any ill effects.

i just did a lowtide move on my 135 gallon. everyone survived. all fish, all corals , anenomie. eveything is great. it was about 9 hours.