Urchin and Coralline

[WahooFishing]

I have a 44 gal. with about 22 lbs. of LR (I'm planning on getting another 15-20 lbs. soon). I recently put a Longspine Black Urchin in there, unaware that he naturally grazed on coralline. Will he deplete all my coralline, or will he just keep it very limited. Is there anything to help promote better coralline growth in such case or should I just get rid of him altogether? I'd rather have the coralline coolness

Also in an unrelated topic, anybody have any corals/anemones with a valentini puffer?

 

[jandree22]

In my 75 gal. I had 3 hitchhiker urchins that came with the rock, each about 3" in diamater. They definately cut back on production, but I doubt even the 3 or them would ever completely deplete all of it. I've since gotten rid of them... they can gobble up somebody else's coralline!

First make sure you have good quality light and water. The light doesn't have to be powerful, but it should be an appropriate spectrum. Second, and most important, keep your calcium levels up. This is easily done by adding kalkwasser to your tank. Just make sure you follow the instructions closely and add it SLOWLY to your tank or you'll wake up with dead fishies and a pH of 10 :lol:

HTH, and....

 

[Len]

I don't think one urchin will deplete a 44 gallon tank of coralline if you have good coralline growth. If your tank doesn't have much coralline growth, however, it may very well munch through your rocks in a few months. I had an urchin in my 120g before and although it didn't consumer all the coralline, it did leave barren spots across the tank. I have since removed it.

 

[WahooFishing]

Thanks guys, I think I'm going to give him back to my lfs along with my Puffer sadly, but I'd rather have some corals. BTW, ya'll know of any low lighting corals or anemones? I have one 18" Marine Glo 15 W and one 18" Life Glo 2 15W, is that sufficient lighting for anything. My tank is pretty deep though...

 

[K9coral]

WHOOOOA,
Get rid of that f*ck@r!!!!! I have had personal experience and if you want, I will email you before and after pics!!!!

 

[jandree22]

Thanks guys, I think I'm going to give him back to my lfs along with my Puffer sadly, but I'd rather have some corals. BTW, ya'll know of any low lighting corals or anemones? I have one 18" Marine Glo 15 W and one 18" Life Glo 2 15W, is that sufficient lighting for anything. My tank is pretty deep though...

to be honest... no, not really. Maybe some mushrooms on the top of the rock, but that's hardly any light, esp for a deep tank.

 

[Len]

The minimum lighting I recommend is a couple of 65 watt power compacts over your tank, and that will only suffice for soft corals and LPS. The truth is it is incredibly hard to compete with the sun and you need a lot of artificial bulbs over a tank just to stay adequete.

 

[WahooFishing]

Hmm, looks like I'll have to be saving some cheese then, maybe Ill just get a domino damsel and some more rock....Does that fact that my tank is in direct sunlight, help any on the coral subject? I've heard of people using just that... thanks again

 

[jandree22]

yah, but you also risk a lot of algae blooms too, unless you keep your water really good.