Urchins, reef safe???

[Sxybeemr325]

I seen one of these pink urchins(Pincushion Urchin) at my lsf couple weeks ago! I felt in love with it. I probably stayed in front of the tank and stared at it for 5 minuts! I Love the urchins!!! Cute little balls!! And it's pinK!!!!!!!!!! What girl woudn t like this urchin?? I tought for some reason that urchins were NOT reef safe. If i look at the exact same one i saw at my lfs on liveaquaria.com, it says this one is reef compatible?!? Really??? Anyone have one of those??? I WANT ONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but do not want this thing to munch on my corals!!

Here is the link to the urchin I saw at my lsf
Saltwater Aquarium Invertebrates for Marine Aquariums: Pincushion Urchin

Stay away from it??? Or buy it? Any toughts??

 

[bobby]

Live aquaria IMO is reliable, however if you notice it says that urchin will get to 8 in big. In time when it gets 8 in it might be a problem because it might knock rocks over and could damage corals or even worse break your tank. If you were to get one I would go with a rock boring urchin, they come in black, dark purple, and dark red all with a bright white circle around each spike, also they stay small around 3 inch and are reef safe. I have one of these in my tank and love it, its awsome, doesnt bother anything and eats algae off the glass. One problem though is there hard to get, I got mine on accident the lfs I got it from didnt order it it came in as a pencil urchin and thats what they sold it to me as. I have been trying to get my lfs to order another one for dfrench but they say they cant order it because its not on there order list. Heres a bad pic, but you can get the idea of what they look like.

Now these can bore a hole in rocks and live in the hole, and they only come out at night to eat algae.

 

[Sxybeemr325]

Bobby, this is a sick looking urchin! I like that one...... Hum, i guess i can check at my lfs. So this thing haven t knocked anything over? or ate your coral yet? I think this may help to have something that would clean my glass....

As for my rocks. it is not epoxied or nothing. As you can see, i have some fairly large size rocks... You think it could knock rocks over and crate an avalanche in my tank?

 

[bobby]

I think any urchin has the chance of knocking over rocks, however this one has never knocked any over and my rocks are not epoxyed either. No this urchin has never touched a coral in the tank, I did get a scare once because it was close to my xenia so I watched it and it was only eating the algae off the shell the xenia were growing on and then went on his way to the glass. This urchin stays small so I think there alot less chance of it knocking rock over.

 

[Sxybeemr325]

Does it do a good job on cleaning your glass? better then the snails? When my snails pass in my glass, they leave marks all over. they are terrible!!

Does it ever come out during the day?

 

[Sxybeemr325]

How did you acclimate it Bobby? just like the star? Drip it for a couple hours?

 

[Sxybeemr325]

Bobby, as for the pink urchin that i showed you, how long will it take before it gets to 8 inches do you think? How fast does an urchin grows?

 

[bobby]

I dont know how fast they grow. I dripped it like my stars. Yes it does a good job with the glass and rocks, when it goes across the glass it clears about a 1 1/2 inch line were ever it goes.

 

[Sxybeemr325]

Sounds good. I think I will pass by my ;fs tonight and see what they got....I ll look for your urchin tho. If i can find youre, i ll get that one.
If they don t have yours and the pink one is there, i think i may not be able to resist that pink ball. As for the corals. i ll check as well... Anyhow i had some water mixed up for 2-3 days now. Gonna go do a water change, then I ll swing by my lfs.

 

[bobby]

Ok. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

 

[Sxybeemr325]

Yote, are you serious??? LMAO.... Well, i guess I ll just have to be careful when I ll clean my tank.... I am super carefull as I am scared like no tomorow of my star! The star is really creepy to me! it looks nice in my tank, and to just look at it, but when I stick my hand in there, i wanna make sure I won t touch it! Creepy creatures!!

 

[Sxybeemr325]

will keep you posted when i get back from my lfs tonight... See what find of finds I made there....

 

[Sxybeemr325]

Well, I finally bought some corals. My usual LSF was closed by the time I got there today. Someone told me to go check out this other chinease fish store.. Decided to swing by this place and go check it out. I was surprised to see how they had amazing fish there. I told myself I was gonna buy only 1 coral. I left there with 3 corals and 1 blenny. LMAO!!! They told me to buy the coral foog in the bottle. Is that ok???

I bought a bubble coral, and also a brain coral and mushroom.

 

[yote]

What kind of coral food is it?

 

[Bifferwine]

Those are all considered generally easy corals. Do you have a calcium test? What are your calcium levels at? You will need to start watching it for the LPS you bought.

 

[Sxybeemr325]

Biff, Will need to check it, but last time i checked, my tank was calcium overdosing. Also, when I bought the bubble coral, it looked all nice and bubbly in the dealer's tank. When he threw it in the ba, all the bubbled disapeared. When i put it in my tank when i got hume, all the bubbles were "retracted" still, and couple hours later, bubbles started coming out. I woke up this morning, and all the bubbles were retracted again (worst then last night), and it looks like the first coat of "skin" ripped at one spot........???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????? Ill post some p0ix of my bubble coral yesterday after a couple hours in my tank and this morning........ So you get to see the difference.......... As for my brain, it started opening up yesterday, and this morning, it is practically fully open. So this one is doing good.

 

[bobby]

Yes I forgot you had too much calcium, you will need to bring it down to 380 to 450.

 

[Sxybeemr325]

But bobby, how can i bring it down?

 

[Sxybeemr325]

***Bubble Coral YESTERDAY after a couple hours in my tank:

***Bubble coral THIS MORNING, not looking so well anymore:

Mushrooms coral this MORNING:

My Brain Coral this MORNING:

 

[reeffreak]

Dang it,I was looking for green stripe mushrooms yesterday and couldn't find any around here.It sometimes takes a few days,even a week before a coral fully opens after bringing it home.Sxy did you notice what kind of lights the bubble was under.If not,then move it near the bottom and move it up alittle every couple of days or so until its at the location you want it.