Urchins

[sklywag]

Never had one before. Added one about four days ago maybe five. Wiped my tank clean. Too clean and had me concerned for my blennies, hermits, snails and general health of my tank. Here it lifting a rock that obv weighs more than it to get to the bottom to feed. Never seen anything like this. Looks like I took a toothbrush to my rock and scrubbed everything bit of everything off. Look at the surrounding rock. The overflow box. Spotless and Immaculate.
Don’t know how to take whiter pictures. Tank is not that blue.

 

[JohnBRZ]

what type of urchins is that? I almost got a baby blue tuxedo yesterday but instead pick up some Astraea and a Trochus snail to deal with some hair algae. Orphek lens works well to filter out the blue

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZJX6JT9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[kaysneezye]

Love urchins they do a great job at cleaning a rock or any structure clean only down fall is they knock over anything that’s isn’t glued down really good.


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[Smite]

I've got a tuxedo, maybe I should get him a couple buddies. That is looks crazy clean! Cool looking urchin too

 

[resortez]

That type of urchin is great at mowing down algae but if it can’t find food to feast on, they starve & wither away. With the other algae eating tank mates in your system, they might end up with the same fate as the urchin. I usually start increasing the light schedule to find that sweet spot for good & healthy algae growth that will feed my entire cuc, plus the corals like the extra daylight. Draw back is more algae growth on the glass but I personally enjoy scraping off algae with a blade, comes off as sheets of algae that my tangs love to feast on. I personally run full lights for 5 hours in between a schedule of 11, so 3 hours of only atinics, then full spectrum for 5 & back down to 3 of atinics. That’s my schedule but you might have to experiment with your settings, different tank different settings. Hope that helps & makes sense.

 

[sklywag]

what type of urchins is that? I almost got a baby blue tuxedo yesterday but instead pick up some Astraea and a Trochus snail to deal with some hair algae. Orphek lens works well to filter out the blue

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZJX6JT9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Site says pincushion.

 

[sklywag]

That type of urchin is great at mowing down algae but if it can’t find food to feast on, they starve & wither away. With the other algae eating tank mates in your system, they might end up with the same fate as the urchin. I usually start increasing the light schedule to find that sweet spot for good & healthy algae growth that will feed my entire cuc, plus the corals like the extra daylight. Draw back is more algae growth on the glass but I personally enjoy scraping off algae with a blade, comes off as sheets of algae that my tangs love to feast on. I personally run full lights for 5 hours in between a schedule of 11, so 3 hours of only atinics, then full spectrum for 5 & back down to 3 of atinics. That’s my schedule but you might have to experiment with your settings, different tank different settings. Hope that helps & makes sense.

My tank is set up in garage and gets defused direct sunlight every day from about noon till sundown this time of year through Summer.