Clown Goby And Urchin Questions

[FishAreCool]

I have a 16 gallon biocube with some snails that don't eat a lot of algae, zoanthids and a blastomussa coral, and a citron goby. My question is, I have a lot of algae growth on my sand bed and it looks like I am getting some hair algae on my rocks. I just got the corals yesterday. If I were to add a tuxedo urchin today, would that stress anything out? I also have some nori if it runs out if food.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Should bother anything unless it decides that your corals would make good hats.
How old is the tank? They do need a pretty established system to thrive.

 

[FishAreCool]

It is about 2 months old.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Still seems too early for me. Tank seems to be going through the uglies.
I’d get other parts of the cuc now like more snails, hermits, etc and then get the urchin a few months down the line.
Manual removal is best for hair algae followed by a strong cuc.

 

[FishAreCool]

How long does it take for the uglies to pass? Will they smother my corals in the time it takes?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Hard to say as it all depends on the system. If you let it get too bad it can smother corals, but that’s what regular water changes, manual maintenance, and a strong clean up crew are for.
An urchin would do a good job at mowing down the algae, but the tank is young and still going to have swings that are dangerous for echinoderms.

 

[FishAreCool]

Thank you for the information!