3 kinds of algae on glass, what to do

i hear ya, consider breaking it into 3rd's like i did, believe me the snails will be worth it

 

are these urchins all reef safe? and what if we don't have enough gha on the rocks, like it's really a small amount so should i just look into getting snails? and the urchins are crazy cool!

 

i guess when i go this weekend i'll glance around and see what i have. So much for getting coral this weekend, but right now, getting rid of algae is more important

 

LOL urchins are reef safe yes. People ***** about them b/c they will knock corals over if not glued down and so on, but my experience, hermits are MUCH worse.

I have had a blue tux longer than I have had this tank, i had him in my old 37g tank.

They are very interesting. If they are happy they will stick stuff on their backs etc. LOL one day mine had a crab molt on his back. Now he is covered in halimeda just running around eating algae. I dont have hair algae or any other algae other than a liittle that gets on my glass. He wont starve or anything if you dont have algae. Actually my avatar is him the day i picked him up

 

so that's what's on your avatar, lol i was wondering what it was. And are these cool with all fish and inverts i'm really interested in them now

 

one more thing about the urchins, do you think they would easily knock over rocks if they sometimes knock over corals? that would be my only real worry, as i could always glue the corals if need be

 

i was just reading up on them urchin, i probably wont be able to have one yet because my nitrates would probably be to high for it

 

Nah they dont have that much force... they are REALLY slow.. they just like to pick small bits of stuff up and put it on their backs if they are happy. I have picked up MANYYY more frags from my hermits than "tux".

They are safe with all fish and everything.. they only eat algae.. and they are really slow. Your more worry is the opposite, fish being safe with them. Hence your name, puffers can probably crack one and triggers also know how to turn them over to get to the soft underside.

 

Ehh nitrates wont bother them too much.. ammonia and salinity changes will. They are like any other invert. Its not that big of a deal. I had nitrates of 80 in my 37g when i had him in there b/c i had the same issue.
Thats back when i was new and didnt know about cuc, and much of anything actually.

 

i also have a slight ammonia and nitrite readings, so that's another reason why i haven't gotten any clean up crew yet, but salanity stays the same. lol and my nitrates are much lower than 80, but still higher than they should be