Should I buy an urchin?

[EndAllTyres-Hoon]

I’ve got two pincushions in my reef tank and if you don’t have your plugs glued into place they will carry them around, mine particularly like to carry them to the top of them tank then drop them, also any smaller sized rocks they will place where they like them, haven’t had an issue with the pincushions eating any on the corals, but if I am gone for longer than a couple days and not there to take the plugs from them i have to hunt down plugs and reset them where they belong

 

[Miami Reef]

Here’s the white trails. I have 3 urchins: 2 tuxedos and 1 pincushion.

 

[JoJosReef]

I think your Xmas tree will be OK. Heavily calcified. My urchin never touched my bottle brush or pencil cap macro. The branching coraline sounds like snack food, though.

 

[EricR]

Thanks! I think I will try a pincushion (mostly because they are available from where I am ordering from). Hopefully it works out well!

Also wondering—if I had plans for Christmas tree macroalgae and branching coralline in the tank, would an urchin consume these, or do they only eat surface algae?

Only one urchin but so far I'll say this:
-- Macro? I had a nice little strand of Caulerpa Prolifera with 6 nice big leaves (I guess that's what I'd call them) for exactly 1 day -- Day 2 = total annihilation. 2 tiny hermits and my urchin absolutely decimated all of it (((not 100% sure if urchin is fully to blame but just pointing it out)))
-- GUESSING that branching coralline would become buffet but I don't know for sure so will just leave you with the following visual...

First morning after introducing urchin (previous tank, same urchin):

 

[Trenox]

Hello,
I was looking into buying a pincushion urchin for my 40 breeder reef, and was trying to pro and con adding one. I’ve heard that they are incredible algae grazers, something I most certainly need, though I have also heard that they can flip frags, topple rocks, and even sometimes eat corals. To those who have kept an urchin, how would you describe your overall experience with one? Should I look into one, or will it cause more harm than help? Is there a particular species you find more helpful than others?

I have a Halloween Pincushion, he's never toppled any rocks or moved anything around. They can engage in covering where they pick things like small rocks or shells (or any of the few tankmates that can't outrun them) up and carry them around, which he did do in the store I got him from, but he hasn't done this at all in my tank.

And they absolutely do an excellent job of cleaning algae.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Thanks everyone for the input! I placed an order from reef cleaners with a pincushion, and I’ll keep you up to date on my initial experience!

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I would suggest a tuxedo rather than a pincushion. The pincushion is a little big for a 40 breeder unless you are way overstocked on fish and have a serious algae problem. Tuxedos stay a bit smaller, would only require minimal supplemental nori feedings and look cooler IMO.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I got a blue tuxedo urchin a few months back and love love love the little guy.
highly recommend them.

 

[EugeneVan]

I have 6 tuxedo urchins in my 210 gal. They are doing an excellent job for keep my rocks clean and they are not growing too big compare with other urchins. One thing you have to keep in mind when you have urchin in your tank, everything has to glue onto something or the urchin will pick it up and move it around with it.

 

[ccole]

I have 3 long spine urchins (came in on live rock) in one tank and a pincushion urchin in another. The pincushion does pick up a lot of stuff and moves it around. The three long spines do a great job keeping the rocks clean, but I had to move one to my refugium when it started to eat my setosa coral. the coral is recovering fine now.

Neither of my tanks have a significant algae issue. I’ve been poked a couple times but it doesn’t really hurt. I like all of them and think they do a great job. If you get a pincushion, I definitely recommend glueing stuff down.

 

[BrianAnthony]

I would think that your urchins will go after the macro and branching first. i think these types of algae are more flavorful. generally, the nuissance algae are not as desireable to eat. So, if no other algae is available, they should take care of your algae issues. I would almost guarantee they would go after your macro first.

 

[BrianAnthony]

Along with your other herbivores..

 

[snickers104]

Thinking about two tux urchins in my reefer 350...

 

[shakacuz]

i have an tuxedo urchin in my sump i keep in the refugium chamber. i occasionally move it to the skimmer chamber to help the 2 astrea snails i have there.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Hello,
I was looking into buying a pincushion urchin for my 40 breeder reef, and was trying to pro and con adding one. I’ve heard that they are incredible algae grazers, something I most certainly need, though I have also heard that they can flip frags, topple rocks, and even sometimes eat corals. To those who have kept an urchin, how would you describe your overall experience with one? Should I look into one, or will it cause more harm than help? Is there a particular species you find more helpful than others?

get a blue tux and you'll be good. Biggest issue is that they will eat corraline

 

[jeffchapok]

I've had no problem with pincushions, but my longspine ate montipora and chalices. He got sumped.

 

[kevgib67]

The previous 14 years in this hobby I avoided them because they were known to be bulldozers and they ate coralline algae ( which I prized back then ). After jumping back in the hobby and researching I purchased a Royal blue tuxedo. I was amazed at how well he cleaned my rocks. I had nothing before or now that comes close. That offsets the occasional frag ride ( yes they are glued down, perhaps a new brand of glue is called for) and the consumption of my coralline.

 

[BrianAnthony]

Thinking about two tux urchins in my reefer 350...

Depends where you are at with algae issues and such. 2 may be enough.. or too little. I really like my tux urchins. They make my tank more diversified. If I had a big tank like yours, I'd def have tangs to be my primary algae clean up.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Hello,
Just a bit of an update to this thread:
The urchin I ordered from Reefcleaners unfortunately arrived dead. I decided to wait a couple of weeks, and try again. This time I got a pencil urchin at my lfs. In the first few days, it circled the rock it was placed on once, and then sat still. Seems healthy, but also lazy. Hopefully soon I’ll get to see it clean up my tank. I’m sure it just takes some time and adjustment.

 

[Duncan62]

Hello,
Just a bit of an update to this thread:
The urchin I ordered from Reefcleaners unfortunately arrived dead. I decided to wait a couple of weeks, and try again. This time I got a pencil urchin at my lfs. In the first few days, it circled the rock it was placed on once, and then sat still. Seems healthy, but also lazy. Hopefully soon I’ll get to see it clean up my tank. I’m sure it just takes some time and adjustment.

Some become nocturnal. They hate high nitrate. As long as there is no spine loss he's probably OK.