sea urchin

[Joshua I.]

anyone have any experience with sea urchins I have a 55 gallon and know nothing about them but i have a ton of algae thoughts?

[laverda]

I have 5 different ones in my 300. My first choice would be a tuxedo urchin. They will also eat coraline algae.

[Joshua I.]

I have a lot of slime algae will they eat that? if not their is still a lot of other algae.

[mcgyvr]

If by slime algae you mean cyanobacteria then no they wont eat it.. Very little will.
They will munch on some short hair algae and many eat other macroalgaes,etc...

They are certainly fun to have but don't expect them to really handle an algae problem to any extent.. The amount they will eat is rarely enough to put a dent in anything beyond a very minor algae issue

[Anemone]

anyone have any experience with sea urchins I have a 55 gallon and know nothing about them but i have a ton of algae thoughts?

You don't mention whether your tank is glass or not. If it's acrylic, I'd steer clear of urchins; they can easily scratch acrylic.

Kevin

[Joshua I.]

oh thanks I didn't know they would scratch the tank

[laverda]

You don't mention whether your tank is glass or not. If it's acrylic, I'd steer clear of urchins; they can easily scratch acrylic.

Kevin

I have heard that numerous times before, but I have never seen any evidence of them doing so on my current or previous tanks. I have had three of my urchins for 3 years now and 2 for 6 months or so. In my old tank I had one for a long time with no signs of damage. Is there a specific one that causes damage?

[Anemone]

I have heard that numerous times before, but I have never seen any evidence of them doing so on my current or previous tanks. I have had three of my urchins for 3 years now and 2 for 6 months or so. In my old tank I had one for a long time with no signs of damage. Is there a specific one that causes damage?

Not that I know of. I would imagine if you let something grow on your acrylic that they like to munch on (like coralline algae), the odds would be greater that they'd damage the acrylic. Personally, I'd be careful of the rock-boring urchins that often come as hitch hikers, because, well, they bore into rock!

FWIW,
Kevin