Three species of corals: Acropora palmata, Diploria strigosa, & Montastraea annularis were exposed to the weight of sediment during daylight and night. Oxygen production & consumption was measured by respirometry; sediment removed by corals were collected simultaneously. All corals exposed to sediments showed an increase in respiration rate at night & a decrease in net photosynthesis during day. The lowered net photosynthesis was due to both light shading & respiratory increase. Integrated 24 P/R ratio for control & sediment-exposed corals were calculated. All control corals had naturally occurring P/R ratios in excess of 1.0, but the sediment treated corals without exception had ratios significantly below 1.0 mostly due to high respiration during sediment rejection. M. annularis & D. strigosa have very high clearing rates relatively to very low rate of A. palmata.