Sea Urchins have begun populating tank

[sdaccord03]

Whats up everybody! So I took a long weekend trip to San Diego and so my weekly 5g water change didn't get done in my 55 gallon reef tank. I was going to do it when low and behold, I find several purple sea urchins have made homes in my new tank. They are really cool-looking and move so fast it's amazing.

Anyways, I was kind of thinking maybe they require a nutrient that became present when I didnt change my water and that's why they had grown. I'm also worried that they may spread like Aptasia anemones (which I've also had problems with! )

Anyways, any information on these critters would be greatly appreciated. I hope everyones' tanks are doing well. Thanks!

JW

 

[XXFirefighter]

You can pull em out and give em to the LFS..
or if yoru closer enough I'd like to trade... I'm on the central coast...

 

[electrikat]

How do some people get so lucky and the rest of us just get mean and nasty hitchhikers?

 

[XXFirefighter]

How do some people get so lucky and the rest of us just get mean and nasty hitchhikers?

No doubt...
I'm free of all my nasties...

 

[sdaccord03]

So are sea urchins good or bad? Will they hurt my fish or corals?

JW

 

[Fluff]

Urchins won't hurt your corals or fish. They only downfall is that they are clumsy and can knock over small corals if not attached well. They also consume some coralline algae. I've found having one urchin, the coralline doesn't suffer but when I had a bunch, I noticed a difference. I ended up with 11 urchins off my first order of liverock and sold them to the lfs.