Can I put an urchin in my refugium?

[Cunning_plan]

Hi All,

Simple question (I hope). I have a fairly large fuge full of chaeto, rubble, pods and GHA. If I was to put one of my tuxedo urchins in my fuge, would they eat up the GHA (and a bit of chaeto) and leave the pods alone? Or would I essentially wipe out my pods?

Tanks is a 180g (see build thread)

 

[mtfish]

They will scrape on hard surfaces. The mouth parts are not made to eat pods. You should be fine as long as it has some algae to munch on.
Question. Do you have GHA in the DT? If not and it were me, I would just let the refugium go wild and keep the urchin where you could see it in the DT.

 

[New&no clue]

From my experience, tuxedo urchins don't eat GHA, I've had the best luck with pincushions and GHA

 

[Df1577]

From my experience, tuxedo urchins don't eat GHA, I've had the best luck with pincushions and GHA

My tuxedo has definitely cleared paths in shorter GHA, but it doesn't seem to target it. Sorta grazes over rocks and clears whatever it meets on its path. If they prefer to eat anything it's probably coralline algae ime.

 

[Cunning_plan]

They will scrape on hard surfaces. The mouth parts are not made to eat pods. You should be fine as long as it has some algae to munch on.
Question. Do you have GHA in the DT? If not and it were me, I would just let the refugium go wild and keep the urchin where you could see it in the DT.

Nothing in display no. But my charro grows like crazy so I’m not worried about nutrients. Just want it to look prettier!