Urchins for Algae Control

jda · Apr 2, 2019

If you have an established tank with some algae issues, then do not forget about urchins for your clean up crew. Here is what one of mine did overnight on a new huge Deresa clam that I just got.

I have found that they will eat any kind of soft algae and then they will eat Coralline after this. If you have a lot of algae, then you might need a lot. I keep ten in my 8 month old tank that is still in the ulgy algae phase - I don't treat or use chemicals, I just wait. I have a pair of them in my 240g SPS tank and they keep the rocks and coralline covered glass algae free.

I find that the Pinchsions from the Florida Keys are the best being voracious eaters and very hardy in an established tank. These will not do well in high nitrates, phosphates or in a new tank.

scriptmonkey · Apr 2, 2019

Define high nitrates?

jda · Apr 2, 2019

Good question. 5 or 10 is pretty high for most sensitive invertebrates. Ocean water is around .1, or so, depending on location. I am going off of memory from reading WWM/Fenner a long time ago.

mattzang · Apr 2, 2019

fwiw i have a black longspine urchin and i had high nitrate issues for awhile (somewhere between 50-100) and he was good to go. not that i'd recommend doing this, just thought i'd throw out my experience with him. i had the high nitrates for probably 1 or 2 months, so not a super long time

i really never had an "ugly" phase with this tank (i mostly used rock from my prior tank that was about 3 months old) and i'm guesstimating that was due to the urchin. i'd see some algae and within a day or two it'd be gone. i also haven't been stabbed by him yet, so that's a plus.

scriptmonkey · Apr 2, 2019

Ok.. I'm sitting at 8 but I definitely need about 50 of them to deal with my coralline, it is starting to harsh my mellow. I will reel it in a bit.

jda · Apr 2, 2019

People used to speculate that an invert that was in the tank before the high levels and was there for the rise, has a better chance than throwing one in that was in the ocean. You will find no study on this, but you see some examples that support the theory.

FWIW, my nitrates are undetectable and the po4 is at about .05 to .06. Undetectable probably means about .1 to .2, or so.

jda · Apr 2, 2019

My urchins don't get on the glass too much. They eat the coralline from the rocks and the sides where it is as thick as a plate. Unfortunately, I still have to scrape... and scrape... and scrape.

scriptmonkey · Apr 2, 2019

jda said:
My urchins don't get on the glass too much. They eat the coralline from the rocks and the sides where it is as thick as a plate. Unfortunately, I still have to scrape... and scrape... and scrape.

BAH!!!!! "You are so lucky, I cannot get coralline to grow..blah blah" . Tell you what...it is the devil, dislike it slightly more than even Aquamaxx.

mattzang · Apr 2, 2019

jda said:
People used to speculate that an invert that was in the tank before the high levels and was there for the rise, has a better chance than throwing one in that was in the ocean. You will find no study on this, but you see some examples that support the theory.

FWIW, my nitrates are undetectable and the po4 is at about .05 to .06. Undetectable probably means about .1 to .2, or so.

that definitely could be. my nitrates were 10~ish when i got him and stayed in that realm for several months

maybe some urchins eat coralline more than others? i have some coralline on rocks, but really not too much on the back wall or anything and my tank is nearing the 1 year mark. i guess some people want that purple/pink color, but i like that with all of the corals in my tank i still don't really have to dose much!

jda · Apr 2, 2019

Here is how I get coralline out of my tank... even with the urchins:

scriptmonkey · Apr 2, 2019

Jesus!!!!!!!! Pull back and nuke from space! It is the only way to kill it for sure!

Oshengems · Apr 2, 2019

My nitrates right now are about 30-40ppm, I’ve had one in my sump for more than 6-7 months, long spine as well, he was knocking everything off in my tank and stripping coraline a tad too fast for me yeah they move slow but eat fast....funny that you mentioned this because I left the Tuxedo on the display since he only cleaned my back panel and only lasted about 2 months mysteriously died

Reefpuck · Apr 2, 2019

Will these eat those little blue clove polyps as well? I've heard that the tuxedo will.

csb123 · Apr 2, 2019

A word of warning about long spined urchins. Even though they are my favorite, if they don’t have enough to eat they will munch on montipora. Mine would occasionally mow a strip through a large stetosa. After a while the stetosa got stressed, so I removed them. The short spined and pencil varieties have not done this.

leepink23 · Apr 2, 2019

This is interesting, I am getting some hair algae, I have turbo and astrea snails but maybe should consider these, any particular ones recommended?

jda · Apr 3, 2019

Pinchsions from the Florida Keys. I get mine at reeftopia. Hardy and voracious algae eaters.

fish farmer · Apr 3, 2019

Another vote for pincushions. I used to get them free from a local university, they would clean out there invert tanks before winter break. They were tough. I would throw them in a FOWLR I maintain, they would live about two years.

Adamantium · Apr 3, 2019

bronxreef said:
My nitrates right now are about 30-40ppm, I’ve had one in my sump for more than 6-7 months, long spine as well, he was knocking everything off in my tank and stripping coraline a tad too fast for me yeah they move slow but eat fast....funny that you mentioned this because I left the Tuxedo on the display since he only cleaned my back panel and only lasted about 2 months mysteriously died

This is why I don't want one. It would be great for my CUC, but I don't want something knocking everything around.