Newbie intro

A

Alchik

New Member
Hi,

I'm new to reefing. I used to keep quasi reef setups back in the 80's (Mostly just a pimped up Saltwater setup...) in a 29 and 50 gallon tank. Stopped due to increased travel. Well, now I've had a biocube 8 freshwater setup for my daughter for a few years. I told her when the last fish bit the dust we'd go to salt. Well, we're down to one sickly tetra now.
To get myself primed I bought a fluval spec 2 gallon tank and set up a small reef. Got some R/O saltwater, live sand, a couple of frags with green polyp coral, 2 lbs of live rock rubble, 1 small cleaner shrimp, 2 blue hermit crabs and a couple of snails. After getting it setup I found that one of the pieces of rubble has a bristle worm and one piece of rubble is actually a clam! Not a colorful clam either. Looks like a rock so I'm clueless on species. Besides that, the little reef actually looks pretty good for being so tiny.

Anyway I've been lurking on the forum for a few years now so I've read a good bit and learned a lot. Hope to learn more from you guys!

Al
 
whippetguy

whippetguy

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Welcome to Reef Sanctuary! We love photos, but you'll need 5 posts to put one on the site.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
welcomefish.gif

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
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Start a new tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along - we love pics :)
 
A

Alchik

New Member
Thanks guys, I'll do that when I have 5 posts! Just noticed yesterday that one of my LR's has a small fingernail size black urchin. Not sure where he was hiding before but he's exploring the tank now. Interesting surprise! Not sure if it's a good or bad thing though...
 
ddelozier

ddelozier

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
RS Ambassador
most urchins are harmless algae grazers. Worst is the tuxedo urchin. not directly harmful, but he likes to collect things to wear. Having a $25 urchin wear a $70 Coral frag as a hat and drag it around the tank is a bit of a :smack:

if the spines look sharp, its probably a Spiny urchin, no big deal.
if the spines are short and stubby, its a pencil urchin.
if its got stripes of different colors, it could be a tuxedo urchin.

none are overtly harmful, and no reall issue in the tank unless your tank is Acrylic, then they may scuff the inside of the tank climbing around looking for food.
 
A

Alchik

New Member
Not too worried about organizing the LR now as I plan on moving it all to the biocube 8 this coming weekend. I have some base and Live rock coming this week and should be able to get something a bit more picturesque going in the BC hopefully!
 
A

Alchik

New Member
ddelozier said:
most urchins are harmless algae grazers. Worst is the tuxedo urchin. not directly harmful, but he likes to collect things to wear. Having a $25 urchin wear a $70 Coral frag as a hat and drag it around the tank is a bit of a :smack:

if the spines look sharp, its probably a Spiny urchin, no big deal.
if the spines are short and stubby, its a pencil urchin.
if its got stripes of different colors, it could be a tuxedo urchin.

none are overtly harmful, and no reall issue in the tank unless your tank is Acrylic, then they may scuff the inside of the tank climbing around looking for food.
Click to expand...

If you look at the pic it's on the small piece of old coral on the top in the middle. The spines look stubby but it's really small and hard to tell for me. Guess I'm ok though...
 
whippetguy

whippetguy

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Your urchin looks just like the one I found on my live rock 6 weeks into having my tank set up. He's now full grown and has been happy in my tank for over 18 months.
 
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