An urchin that doesn't eat coraline algae

[drblank1]

My tank is 3 years old and for most of that time, I've had a halloween urchin. He is great and entertaining. But, the problem is he eats so much coraline algae, that I can't get the rocks covered and this allows for nuisance algae to grow. My question is, are there urchins that will eat the nuisance algae but not coraline algae?

 

[CasperOe]

I am unsure about the urchin and whether you can get one that leaves your Coraline in peace.

Would it be a poor suggestion to consider looking into the reasons as to why the nuisance algae is growing at a rate hard to control instead?

 

[drblank1]

I am unsure about the urchin and whether you can get one that leaves your Coraline in peace.

Would it be a poor suggestion to consider looking into the reasons as to why the nuisance algae is growing at a rate hard to control instead?

LOL, not at all. I don't have a BIG problem per se. Keeping NO3 at ~10 and PO4 at ~ .03 for coral health, I do get a couple of patches that I manually take care of. And the urchin seems to prefer the coraline over the hair algae. It would be nice to have rocks covered with coraline so no other algae could get a foothold.

One alternative I've considered is to get rid of the urchin and boost my CUC. I don't want to do that as I feel urchins add a lot of character to the tank.

 

[fishRus]

What happens when my urchin eats all my coralline algae the back wall of my tank was completely covered with coralline algae he has eaten about half of it in 3 months. My tank is filled with coral. LPS, Montipora and soft coral

 

[PeterErc]

A dead one

 

[fishRus]

A dead one

Still alive and growing he must be eating something besides coralline algae I still have a lot left

 

[PeterErc]

Still alive and growing he must be eating something besides coralline algae I still have a lot left

It was more of a joke, what kind of bird doesn't fly.
Urchins will most likely all eat coralline to a degree, some more than others. I do not know everything that they eat. It's good yours is thriving and not causing issues.

Pencil urchins I have don't seem to do damage. Long spines would leave a path of where they went, even across entrusting SPS. Variegated would redecorate the tank.