Urchins and Coralline algae?

[bsmom]

Do they help reduce the coralline algae on the sides of an acrylic tank and are they destructive at all to corals or fish. Saltwaterfish.com lists them as peaceful.

 

[Airwolf75]

At least some, if not most will scratch the acrylic with their teeth.

 

[goochesfish]

the question is, how to keep them from eating the coralline from the live rock?

 

[jdargonaut]

Had 2 of them, a long spine and a short spine. They ate coraline off the rock, and left scratches all over the acrylic. Gave them to the lfs. They are very active eaters if you don't mind losing some the coraline on your rocks.

 

[vlim13]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15666868#post15666868 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by goochesfish
the question is, how to keep them from eating the coralline from the live rock?

Don't put them in the tank.

I have a 400 gal, and one urchin (blue tuxedo) cleared most of the coralline within a week. But luckily, there's enough rock in there to grow back more coralline. The other one (purple short spine) took care of all hair algae.

I've only seen them on the sides of the tank twice in the last month or so. Mostly they're cruising the rocks. I can see how they'll scratch the acryllic, but I've done more harm with my magnet cleaner than they have.

 

[emoore]

I have a blue tuxedo urchin in my 90. He has been great eating all kinds of algae. He does eat coraline off the rock but it grows back very quickly. I don't see him on the glass much. I do have a glass tank so he really can scratch the glass.

 

[MaineReef88]

Mine eats constantly, All the coraline is gone, No corals in the tank so I cant say anything there.

 

[JoeCreature]

Most urchins will knock over un-secured corals. Tuxedos are know for grabbing unattached frags and carrying them around. They can scratch the acrylic and eat coraline algae as well although both effects are typically minimal. I wouldn't get one for the sole purpose of getting coraline off the sides because there is no real way to "make" them stick only to the sides.

 

[Kinetic]

great, I want to get rid of all corraline in my tank! I don't know why people like corraline so much =/

I'll probably find a tuxedo to do the job. I also have some "Macro" algae that's becoming a nuisance. Not as fine as hair, but long strands, almost like chaeto.

 

[bsmom]

I bought this on a lark while grocery shopping today. I did a small area. I works a lot better than a credit card.

<a href="http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/pnwroselover/?action=view&current=IMG_0313.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/pnwroselover/IMG_0313.jpg" border="0" alt="Algae Scraper?"></a>

 

[Western_reefer]

Can Pencil Urchins really scratch glass? I ordered 2 baby Pencil Urchins for my 180 gallon and they should be here next week.