Sea Urchins

[shaannondavis21]

Hello everyone I am very new to hobby but also very much hooked. I recently added a sea urchin to my reef tank and my kids and I
really enjoy watching him and he is a great cleaner, my only concern is he seems to be eating some of my coraline algea. So i guess I am ultimately asking is he ok for a reef tank?

 

[wii64brawl]

Species? The only common non-reef safe one I know of is pencil urchins. Most urchins will eat coralline, though. Kind of a give and take.

 

[degibson84]

Most urchins will eat coralline before nusaince. That dosent make them non reef safe. I have a pincushion that eats coralline and nothing else

 

[wii64brawl]

Actually, they help to spread spores when they eat it. So if you have a decent sized tank, they actually help the population.

 

[shaannondavis21]

Tank

Tank

Its only a 35 and I have no idea what species he is.

 

[EllieSuz]

I have a Blue Tuxedo that's been in my tank from the beginning, five or six years at least. He does eat Corraline, but mostly on the glass. I really don't see him on the rocks very often. They're really fun to watch, aren't they? Does yours pick up little pieces of junk to camouflage himself? Here's my little guy cleaning Nori off the clip:

 

[Dante12345]

My urchin seems to be an equal opportunity urchin. Picks at a little bit of everything.

 

[shaannondavis21]

Here is a bad picture of my guy and yes we love to watch him. Thanks Nickdodge8 for the great deal and knowledge

 

[wii64brawl]

Doesn't look like a Diadema setosum (spines too short), so I would go with Echinometra lacunter.

 

[lhscouchmonster]

do they eat enough coraline for it to make a difference aesthetically? for example, would there be white spots all over the rocks in my tank (75g display with about 90-100lbs of live rock)? I was thinking about getting one like the OP has.

Im guessing he would be a brute and knock over any non securely attaches corals so that is the main reason i havent bought one yet. i need to just buy some reef putty so my duncan isnt on the ground ****ed off at me...