Urchin vs snails

[Ruzoko]

Not sure what the deal is but my snails in 2 separate tanks are starting to drop off the rocks/glass and not right themselves. Even a stomatella ive had for 2 years (granted all but 1 snail are around 3 years old going on 4) not sure if theu just hit the end of their lives or what. (Will be full testing parameters both tanks today, just odd other inverts are fine ex: urchin, brittle star, coral banded shrimp) but moving forward was wondering if sticking to urchins and doing away with snails was the way to go?

 

[EricR]

I only have one urchin and 7 snails (nassarius/turbo/margarita) so probably not enough experience for meaningful response but...
Urchins are way more fun but way more pain in the butt in terms of keeping your corals where you want.

Also, nothing ever eats the algae that you really want it to (for me, anyway).

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I like using both. Biodiversity makes the tank more exciting!

 

[Sean Clark]

Mix it up, try to have a bit of everything to diversify the behavior in the tank.

 

[Ruzoko]

I only have one urchin and 7 snails (nassarius/turbo/margarita) so probably not enough experience for meaningful response but...
Urchins are way more fun but way more pain in the butt in terms of keeping your corals where you want.

Also, nothing ever eats the algae that you really want it to (for me, anyway).

Yeah -_- i had brown algae infesting my tank and urchin + snails never ate it so wondering if they starved (urchin ate wafers but snails ignored) but wouldnt explain my 2nd tank.

 

[Ruzoko]

I like using both. Biodiversity makes the tank more exciting!

I did love the different species but will see, if it was a tank param prob ima have to fix. Just not sure full lifespan of snails too heard it ranges everywhere from 1 yr - 8yrs with same species snail @.@

 

[Kongar]

I LOVE my urchin. You still need snails, but not as many. My urchin is the greatest clean up crew member in the tank. I'm honestly surprised having an urchin isn't considered a "must do" Only two downsides: 1) he's a bulldozer. Everything better be glued down or it's going for a ride, and even it it is, my urchin will rip off zoa stalks, or small sps frags and wear them as hats. 2) they eat a LOT - your tank needs to grow coraline algae like crazy otherwise you'll have to supplement. Mine has been doing good for a while in a 20G, and I don't supplement feed him - but he pretty much destroys any and all algae (including coraline) my tank produces.

Did I mention he's my favorite? There's pics of him in my build thread if you want proof that he's fat and healthy.

 

[EricR]

I LOVE my urchin. You still need snails, but not as many. My urchin is the greatest clean up crew member in the tank. I'm honestly surprised having an urchin isn't considered a "must do" Only two downsides: 1) he's a bulldozer. Everything better be glued down or it's going for a ride, and even it it is, my urchin will rip off zoa stalks, or small sps frags and wear them as hats. 2) they eat a LOT - your tank needs to grow coraline algae like crazy otherwise you'll have to supplement. Mine has been doing good for a while in a 20G, and I don't supplement feed him - but he pretty much destroys any and all algae (including coraline) my tank produces.

Did I mention he's my favorite? There's pics of him in my build thread if you want proof that he's fat and healthy.

My urchin is also one of my favorites to watch -- but, as I think you alluded to, mine only carries around everything, eats all of the coralline off my rocks (...never touches it on the back glass), carefully steps around little pockets of hair algae (so as to not disturb it), and is constantly trying to wear my zoas,,, which he can't do anymore since I glued down but still makes a valiant effort by pulling on them from all different directions and just ticking them off instead.

 

[SPS2020]

My urchin is also one of my favorites to watch -- but, as I think you alluded to, mine only carries around everything, eats all of the coralline off my rocks (...never touches it on the back glass), carefully steps around little pockets of hair algae (so as to not disturb it), and is constantly trying to wear my zoas,,, which he can't do anymore since I glued down but still makes a valiant effort by pulling on them from all different directions and just ticking them off instead.

What type of Urchin? I just added six Tuxedos to try and combat a GHA outbreak.

 

[Kongar]

A tuxedo urchin. He alone keeps up with everything in a 20G tank. Go take a look at my build thread and see the pre and post urchin algae pics. It's pretty impressive. I don't think the urchin eats anything that's long (at least mine didn't), so I used reef flux / vibrant to kill it back. But once the rocks were mostly bare - he kept them bare. I watch him daily - he moves around more than you'd think. Covers quite a bit of ground. If you look at the back wall - you'll see where the coraline algae grows up about halfway. He'll easily eat everything off that back wall in a single night.

 

[EricR]

What type of Urchin? I just added six Tuxedos to try and combat a GHA outbreak.

From what I've read, tuxedos seem like the way to go.
I bought a "pink urchin" (looks like a pincushion urchin) from my LFS -- he doesn't touch GHA at all for some reason.

 

[Ruzoko]

I LOVE my urchin. You still need snails, but not as many. My urchin is the greatest clean up crew member in the tank. I'm honestly surprised having an urchin isn't considered a "must do" Only two downsides: 1) he's a bulldozer. Everything better be glued down or it's going for a ride, and even it it is, my urchin will rip off zoa stalks, or small sps frags and wear them as hats. 2) they eat a LOT - your tank needs to grow coraline algae like crazy otherwise you'll have to supplement. Mine has been doing good for a while in a 20G, and I don't supplement feed him - but he pretty much destroys any and all algae (including coraline) my tank produces.

Did I mention he's my favorite? There's pics of him in my build thread if you want proof that he's fat and healthy.

Yeah in my 150 i have a longspine urchin xD had him a couple years now but for my smaller was looking at getting a halloween urchin

 

[jcolliii]

My tuxedo is worth 100 snails. Snails won't touch filamentous types, but Tom Petty does (call 'him' that because he's always wearing some outrageous hat). Eats every scrap of algae he can find, but he's not great at the back wall - dunno of the beaks are not great on flat objects as rocks are not usually too flat. Super hard working, but can knock stuff around. Make sure your corals are securely fastened!