If only urchins could see...

creativeballance · Jul 15, 2020

They would be unstoppable and the perfect algae control.

Unfortunately, one of mine spends entirely too much time lost on the glass...

The time it is "working" on the rocks, it has made a amazing difference! Just a week ago ALL of my rocks were covered in this...whatever collection of algae this is!

You can see some definite pathways showing where it's gone. I noticed that theres many spots it cant get to, so I got a smaller pin-cushin urchin today. I'll post pics in a week, if anyone is interested.

Once I get my nitrate issue figured out, I'll have to figure out how to keep the poor thing fed!

TheGerm · Jul 15, 2020

i had the exact same experience, but absolutely loved them!

Once all the algae was gone, i'd tie some seaweed to a rock every other night and place it in the sand bed. In the morning it would be just a rock again.

creativeballance · Jul 15, 2020

TheGerm said:
i had the exact same experience, but absolutely loved them!

Once all the algae was gone, i'd tie some seaweed to a rock every other night and place it in the sand bed. In the morning it would be just a rock again.

Did you leave the rock in the same spot for them to find?

Fishurama · Jul 15, 2020

Once it eats all the algae, if you want to supplement, nori sheets work wonders. It will still eat detritus either way and still help after the algae is gone.

TheGerm · Jul 15, 2020

creativeballance said:
Did you leave the rock in the same spot for them to find?

Sometimes i would just throw it in the sand bed if i couldnt see the urchin (liked to go into a couple of my rock formations), other times i would set it right next to it, and it would immediately attach itself.

They are natural sea weed eaters, if they are hungry enough they will find it, even if its 100s of yards away (not likely in our tanks)

.

ReefHomieJon · Jul 15, 2020

I think the long spine urchin might be the best urchin cuz mine be all over the rocks and sand and doesn’t miss a spot. Doesn’t ever touch the glass tho, I think it leaves that for the snails

X-37B · Jul 15, 2020

I have a halloween and a black tuxedo urchin.
Both dont eat much algae.
They mainly stay on the back wall eating coralline.
My coralline grows pretty fast.
They have mowed down quite a few clove polyps as several patches of them have sprung up from the live rock.
I hope they eat them all lol.
Couple pics I just took.

jeffrey750750 · Jul 15, 2020

I miss my tuxedo urchin, cool to see what he would carry around

RobertTheNurse · Aug 16, 2020

creativeballance said:
They would be unstoppable and the perfect algae control.

Unfortunately, one of mine spends entirely too much time lost on the glass...

The time it is "working" on the rocks, it has made a amazing difference! Just a week ago ALL of my rocks were covered in this...whatever collection of algae this is!

You can see some definite pathways showing where it's gone. I noticed that theres many spots it cant get to, so I got a smaller pin-cushin urchin today. I'll post pics in a week, if anyone is interested.

Once I get my nitrate issue figured out, I'll have to figure out how to keep the poor thing fed!

Hey! thanks for posting. I have started to have a small GHA bloom starting. Want to add an urchin, loved reading your thread. How is everything going?

creativeballance · Aug 16, 2020

Good so far!
They're both behaving themselves and leaving my rock stripped of all algae as they pass.
Between an occasional toothbrush scrub on some spots that they have trouble getting to, and some macro in my fuge, Im finally starting to win against GHA / bryopsis.

I would recommend either types of urchins...
Just stay away from the pencil variety.

RobertTheNurse · Aug 16, 2020

creativeballance said:
Good so far!
They're both behaving themselves and leaving my rock stripped of all algae as they pass.
Between an occasional toothbrush scrub on some spots that they have trouble getting to, and some macro in my fuge, Im finally starting to win against GHA / bryopsis.

I would recommend either types of urchins...
Just stay away from the pencil variety.

Pencil variety? LOL something else to look up. Are they ripping coral frags off and destroying them?

creativeballance · Aug 16, 2020

RobertTheNurse said:
Pencil variety? LOL something else to look up. Are they ripping coral frags off and destroying them?

The pencil I had ate some zoas and some sps. And kept trying to escape my sump.

The Halloween and pincushion are model citizens...mostly.. They very carefully eat around my coral. They do like to pick up any thing not glued down, and love to carry around small snails and crabs.

RobertTheNurse · Aug 17, 2020

creativeballance said:
The pencil I had ate some zoas and some sps. And kept trying to escape my sump.

The Halloween and pincushion are model citizens...mostly.. They very carefully eat around my coral. They do like to pick up any thing not glued down, and love to carry around small snails and crabs.

They sound like a riot!

vanpire · Aug 17, 2020

I love urchins and have 5 in my tank. I have lost several frags, but that in the price you pay.

My Halloween and pin cushion urchins seem to eat all kinds of algae or at least the ones in my tank. No HA in the display where the urchins are but some in my frag/sump where the urchins are not. I never feed my urchins after the nuisance algae are gone, but they seem to find something to eat and are fine and growing.

I think algae is always growing and they find enough to eat.

RobertTheNurse · Aug 17, 2020

vanpire said:
I love urchins and have 5 in my tank. I have lost several frags, but that in the price you pay.

My Halloween and pin cushion urchins seem to eat all kinds of algae or at least the ones in my tank. No HA in the display where the urchins are but some in my frag/sump where the urchins are not. I never feed my urchins after the nuisance algae are gone, but they seem to find something to eat and are fine and growing.

I think algae is always growing and they find enough to eat.

Can't wait! I want one so bad now.

creativeballance · Aug 28, 2020

*sigh* there goes my algae eradication plan.

There you have it folks...GHA is fashion, not food.

jeffchapok · Aug 28, 2020

Hit any algae you want gone with a blast of boiling RODI water from a turkey baster. Something about it makes it irresistible to urchins, snails, crabs and even fish.

creativeballance · Aug 28, 2020

jeffchapok said:
Hit any algae you want gone with a blast of boiling RODI water from a turkey baster. Something about it makes it irresistible to urchins, snails, crabs and even fish.

The urchin is carrying the algae around.

shred5 · Aug 28, 2020

Urchins they may be great algae eaters and interesting but beware. If you have cords to like flow pumps they can chew them, I have had them chew the glue up seams on a tanks once and also have had them eat right across a coral.