Sea Urchin in a new tank.

[angief]

I have just placed some LR in my new tank setup to help cycle the tank a bit better. When tha LR had been in the water for only a few minutes I had the suprise of my lefe as there on the side of the rock appeared a really nice sea urchin. As my tank has only been cycling for 3 weeks qill this harm the urchin? Do I have to feed it or will it eat the algae from the rocks ? The temprature seems to rise when I put the lights on is this a problem? I have a 35 gallon tank with 2 fluval filters, 1 power head and one prism skimmer. The PH is 8.6, the Amonia level indicates very high but I used Ammo lock 2 which I beleive makes it non toxic to fish. The nitrate level is 0.25. The SG is 1.021, are these good levels for a new tank? How should I set the temparature so that it doesn't raise above 79 when the lights are on or is this an acceptable rise when using tubes ?

 

[mlm]

The levels are high but it is part of the cycle. Do not introduce anything until the levels go to 0. your ph may be a little high but that could be your test kit. The urchin eats algea and leftovers and it has been said that it may eat coraline algea. What is your temp before you turn the lights on? If it is too much of a flux then you may want to get a fan.

 

[alianated]

I did quite a bit of research on urchins on Saturday (Check the board dates, I got some really good replies on it... thanks all) and even asked a few reefers I knew who had them.
The consensus is that they do eat coraline algae, but as long as your tank has a good amount of it, they aren't going to kill off all your coraline or anything. There are a few people mentioned on the string I posted that are supposed to be more safe. I opted with the Tuxedo Urchin (which has a different name on this site sometimes) because he has small spines that shouldnt hurt any corals, and Im just going to keep my fingers crossed and watch him closely.

 

[angief]

The start temperature is 78.8 as this is the closest to 79 I have managed to get it, so far. Once the lights come on and have been on a while the temp risies to 80.1. Is this too much of a jump? What kind of fan should I think of investing in ?

 

[nm reef]

I don't think thats enough of a temp swing to be overly concerned about......during the summer mine would go from 78 to 84 during the day with no problems........during the fall and winter its rangeing from 78-80........much more of a swing than 8-10 degrees would concern me........same as in nature the temp goes up and down thru the day.......

 

[angief]

I think I have managed to settle the temperature a bit better by turning up the output of the powerhead. The only thing is that this creates millions of micro air bubbles in the water which is ok for now but I think this might spoil the over all effect once I put in more LR and when the fish are eventually added. Is there a good place to put the powerhead? It is currently in the half way down the middle on the left side of the tank and I have it pointing into the middle of the tank.

 

[fshhub]

do you have an air tube attached to your powerhead?
if so you only need to point the head at the surface for aeration and to disturb the surface of the water, and be able to not use teh air tube