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fishoutawater 
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 Topic: tuxedo urchin
Posted: January 27 2010 at 12:14am |
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Just put one of these in the tank today. It has only moved about 2" in 6 hrs, but it has cleaned down to bare rock! It even ate all the red turf type algae. Are these things always this thorough? I am already liking it better than my turbo snails.
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Some day, when I grow up,...
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Spbeyond
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Posted: January 27 2010 at 12:24am |
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Yep, they eat coraline algea. Not cool if you like that stuff. Otherwise heck yeah.
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90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5
I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;)
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 27 2010 at 11:05am |
They easily starve within a few months after they have cleaned most of the algae. I once had an urchin that I moved from one tank to another just to keep it alive eating the Coralline algae in both tanks. In one of the tanks the coralline grew well on the glass so I didn't scrape the glass, just let the urchin do it. Amazing to watch their five teeth close down on algae. It reminds me of "Star Trek the Movie" when the Enterprise enters V'ger. 
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fishoutawater
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Posted: January 27 2010 at 2:16pm |
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Good to know, I have probably have too much rock in the display now, and its all covered in coralline. I have also been building my cuc very slowly so that they don't eat themselves into starvation. In a 40breeder I now have 3 nassarius, 5 cerith, 2 turbos, urchin, and tang, if that counts. It is a tomini tang and on the small side at almost 3 inches. Is this one of the tangs that will eat valonia Mark? I have not noticed it doing so yet. I am also cutting back on my feeding to every other day.
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Some day, when I grow up,...
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TNaisbitt
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Posted: January 27 2010 at 2:29pm |
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How do they do on green hair algae? I have a bit of it in my nano that I wouldn't mind letting one graze on for a while before transferring to my 90 gallon.
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"Water which is too pure has no fish."
90 Gal Reef, 12Gal Nano Reef
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: January 27 2010 at 4:50pm |
The Tomini Tang is in the Bristletooth family along with the Yellow Eye Tang which are not especially known for eating Valonia. It helps to give them a taste for it by popping it for them. It's hit and miss with eating hair algae.
I should say though that almost any Tang will eat almost any algae if they are hungry enough. Hunger is usually the key. It's okay to let a tank go for a week without feeding. This does two things. It stops feeding the algae and makes all the herbivores hungry enough to start eating the tastiest algae. Some algae is very bitter and few fish will touch it. Bryopsis is one of those. This what it looks like.
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Brandon1985
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Posted: January 27 2010 at 11:08pm |
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Do they eat RED hair algae I have it very bad in my tank and need something to take care of it lol also is this urchin reef safe?
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24G JBJ Nano with LEDS
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fishoutawater
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Posted: January 29 2010 at 9:30pm |
It eats this type of red algae. They pick up anything small and unattached and carry it around on their back though. It almost picked up a small hermit crab tonight, kind of comical to watch the struggle.
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Brandon1985
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Posted: January 29 2010 at 10:19pm |
Ok mine looks like this and I have ALOT of it PLEASE HELP ME
Edited by Brandon1985 - January 29 2010 at 10:20pm
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24G JBJ Nano with LEDS
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fishoutawater
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Posted: January 29 2010 at 10:44pm |
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That looks like cyano to me. Could you put up a full tank shot? And give some tank info., like flow, powerheads, pumps etc. Also lights, type and time they are on? More info the better.
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Some day, when I grow up,...
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Brandon1985
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Posted: January 29 2010 at 11:40pm |
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PM Sent
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24G JBJ Nano with LEDS
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