Need ID on this stuff! / Tips

DeniseAndy · Sep 11, 2015

ORA only sells to retailers. You have to find one that uses them. However, Liveaquaria does.

Both are very good. However all urchins also love coralline algae, so they will eat that too, just an fyi. I find tuxedos tend to carry more frags than the varigated although varigated are larger. I like the varigated because they are captive bred too. Mine even spawed in my system. I never found babies though.

jgraz · Sep 11, 2015

I have a tuxedo in the system with a melunarus and 6-line, neither one paid him any mind. The urchin was about 1' when I got him and a my wrasses are both close to full grown.

Chrisss · Sep 11, 2015

Thanks for the ideas guys! Probably going to go with the Varigated Urchin route

. I had coarline algae taking off a few months back, but one day it just stopped and died I guess. Corals probably using all the Kalk, so them eating coarline isn't a problem

Now I just need to find the best one!
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+2857+593&pcatid=593

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+530+594&pcatid=594

Any Difference in the two besides color/hairy?

Chrisss · Sep 11, 2015

The hairy one actually looks really cool in videos lol!

DeniseAndy · Sep 14, 2015

IMO Don't get the harry one. It is usually called a Halloween urchin (may be dating myself). They get very large and really drag stuff all over the place. Made a mess of my stuff and was softball size when I had to farm out to another reef keeper.

Chrisss · Sep 14, 2015

Ahh yes! Halloween does turn up more results when searching! I wanted to do more research on this guy and didn't find many results. Don't all urchins decorate themselves with stuff or is the Halloween variants more likely to do it?

Their colors are amazing which is the only reason i'm considering it over the pincushion one. Do they grow fast even if I get a small one?

DeniseAndy · Sep 14, 2015

They are beautiful! However, yes they grow fast and I am guessing due to size pick more stuff up (larger stuff). However, my varigated just tend to pick up less even then my tuxedo. Could be just individual preference. As long as you do not have small corals or frags around, a Halloween would be fine. However, if you have decorator algae, do not get one. Mine destroyed a beautiful rock of some I had in seconds.

Most urchins do decorate. It is the fun part of them. When I show them to kids, they overlook them because they see them as a rock. Too funny. That is in a 6g tank too. Tiny baby tuxedos though.

Tahoe61 · Sep 14, 2015

I got the ORA, for newer tank issues, he ate every bit of algae in about 1 month, left nothing in his wake. My algae issue resolved and the Urchin was too much of a bulldozer for an sps tank, he kept walking around with my frags stuck to him. Glue them down, yeah no, he kept at them until he could remove them and walk around with them. I passed him on to another reefer with algae issues.

DeniseAndy · Sep 14, 2015

LOL. They will do that!

Chrisss · Sep 14, 2015

Hahaha dam! My frags luckily are either encrusted or the few that arnt are big enough so he cant carry lol. probably the biggest issue I have is size and eat zoas(heard i should be fine though). My tank is only 55g. Not much rock/lot in sump so keep filtration good. But there are a few spots that I dont know if he can move around.

Probably not the biggest issue though haha

Just gonna need to buy lots and lots of epoxy for new frags, I had some on a rock that I took out and there was no way of getting that stuff off.

Plus no decorator algae or coraline on the rocks anymore >.> so im good on that

Chrisss · Sep 16, 2015

Got him

from Liveaquaria! Amazing how they shipped this guy so perfectly.

Will update if he does the job, thanks for the help everyone!

Tahoe61 · Sep 16, 2015

Excellent, yes please do update, I will be really really curious to see how he does with that algae. Remember you can feed it strips of nori just as you would a fish.

DeniseAndy · Sep 16, 2015

Cool. Have fun with him.

Chrisss · Dec 4, 2015

3 Months almost all Green Turf Alage is gone. Some remain but this guy did work. Still eating algae like crazy. A must for any tank i have from here on out. Only down side is i have to glue every coral down because he takes them for a ride. However, its better in the long run because I should be gluing them down anyways to make them not be disturbed.

So hes helping in the long run on that too haha!
But here some picture sorry there so blurry camera kinda sucks.

Just now I have some weird like slime algae that is there(have it before green turf also). Its in small parts so its pretty much just annoying me lol. On to the next I guess

Chrisss · Dec 4, 2015

Just a side note. I did not bump up water changes I just siphoned out more and more green turf when i did them. I think that helped out a lot!!!! And then the urchin just stopped it from growing back. I also took out half the rocks with green turf and replaced them with fresh non-algae rocks. It did have to cycle but there was no harm. Also cut feeding down. Stopped using LFS and started using PE mysis (WAYYYY less phosphate imo). Started to rinse food more and also ramped up the flow with my new Maxspect Gyre

So this guy did help but I think all the changes that I did also helped!

Just some info for people that are having trouble with green turf like i did

(I also think summer didn't help) Phosphates were probably there and just summer caused them to come out

brandon429 · Dec 4, 2015

he looks like a little porcupine!

DeniseAndy · Dec 4, 2015

I am glad he worked out. Mine are now spawning every so often in the aquarium. Water turns murky for hours. I have two varigated captive bred, so I guess I deserve it. Haven't seen any babies though.