While I know this varies from to tank to tank, I was wondering what the consensus was on how many urchins (probably Tuxedo or Halloween) per gallon on a reef tank?
Since I know it will be ask, the reason I am wondering is a GHA issue that is starting to slowly drive me insane. As background the tank is a 60g cube with 15g sump. It's been up for 10+ years, but was fallowed for 2 years until Dec 2022 (lights and pumps were still on). After replacing the sand, I stocked it with 2 Lightning Maroons. For CUC I have 3 Turbo Snails, 15-20 Blue Leg Hermits, 30+ mixed snails, and a Tuxedo Urchin. In addition I added 40-50 coral frags from my other tanks around January. Within a week nitrate and phosphorus fell out the bottom and I had Dinos (Ostreopsis) pop up. Started dosing and turned back on the UV and had them cleared within a day or two. My issue is, whenever I cut back on dosing what I consider a ludicrous amount I have dinos pop back up. GHA has taken hold in maybe a dozen spots the size of a quarter or so. Currently daily dosing:
Brightwell Nitromag 15ml
Brightwell Neo Phos 17ml
Kents Mag M Tech 9ml
Seachem Part 1 20ml
Seachem Part 2 22ml
I have attached the last 90 days of my major prams. So back to original question. Would 2 urchins be ok in this set up if I would like to avoid potential supplemental feeding in the future, or should I try to ride this out and ignore my OCD. Thank you for any input from a long time lurker, first time poster.
Since I know it will be ask, the reason I am wondering is a GHA issue that is starting to slowly drive me insane. As background the tank is a 60g cube with 15g sump. It's been up for 10+ years, but was fallowed for 2 years until Dec 2022 (lights and pumps were still on). After replacing the sand, I stocked it with 2 Lightning Maroons. For CUC I have 3 Turbo Snails, 15-20 Blue Leg Hermits, 30+ mixed snails, and a Tuxedo Urchin. In addition I added 40-50 coral frags from my other tanks around January. Within a week nitrate and phosphorus fell out the bottom and I had Dinos (Ostreopsis) pop up. Started dosing and turned back on the UV and had them cleared within a day or two. My issue is, whenever I cut back on dosing what I consider a ludicrous amount I have dinos pop back up. GHA has taken hold in maybe a dozen spots the size of a quarter or so. Currently daily dosing:
Brightwell Nitromag 15ml
Brightwell Neo Phos 17ml
Kents Mag M Tech 9ml
Seachem Part 1 20ml
Seachem Part 2 22ml
I have attached the last 90 days of my major prams. So back to original question. Would 2 urchins be ok in this set up if I would like to avoid potential supplemental feeding in the future, or should I try to ride this out and ignore my OCD. Thank you for any input from a long time lurker, first time poster.
