Urchin for GHA

[mpugh]

Hi all, my tank is about 8 weeks old and have some GHA in my sand bed, the GHA came from a coral from my other tank. 
I have heard that an urchin can make quick work of GHA, is this true and what urchin would do this? 
I don’t have any water parameters yet as I am in work, same reason I don’t have any pictures. I have snails, hermits and a strawberry conch in there now with a few bits of coral. I don’t have any fish in there as I had a suspected brook outbreak so my clown is in a QT and doing so much better after treatment. 
The GHA is only on the sand bed and a bit on the coral that transferred it over. I’m also running an algae reactor and my cheato is growing really well. 
 

Thanks for any upcoming info 👍🏻

[seabass]

Depending on the species of algae, an urchin might remove it (nano sized urchins include: tuxedo, pencil, or rock boring).  However, you might look at what it might have to eat after that.

 

Instead, I might recommend manual removal and a few more herbivorous snails.  Keep up on your removal and move the snails to the area that you just cleaned.

 

Also, remove excess organics and detritus.  Use a turkey baster to blow detritus off of the bare rock, and siphon wastes off of the sand bed.

[mpugh]

I have been manually removing it, just can’t tell if it’s growing back or not, so something must be working 😂

I have about 8 snails right now, and 2 nassasrius snails. I did have about 10 or 11 snails, but they became crab food when they fell off the rock in the night and couldn’t flip themselves back over…

 

I do blow detritus off the rocks on a weekly basis, but my siphon seems to want to remove just as much sand as it does water. Any recommendations on a decent siphon that won’t empty my tank of sand?

[seabass]

4 minutes ago, mpugh said:

I have about 8 snails right now, and 2 nassasrius snails.

Nassarius snails help clean up left over food but won't eat algae.  Herbivorous snails are key to controlling algae (like Trochus, Astrea, Nerite, as well as various turbo snails).

 

4 minutes ago, mpugh said:

Any recommendations on a decent siphon that won’t empty my tank of sand?

I just rinse the sand and return it.

[Reefkid88]

Mt nano pincushion DESTROYED my GHA when I had my tank set up. Everything was covered  and within a week everything was super clean. Just be aware of things that aren't glued down,will get moved and carried around the tank. 

[mpugh]

Thanks for the advice guys 

[billygoat]

In addition to being good algae grazers, tuxedo urchins have the added benefit of being adorable as well.

 

I've also seen 3D-printed plastic hats that you can give to such urchins to help mitigate their natural tendency to pick up rocks and carry them around your tank. There's nothing quite like a collector urchin wearing a bright green sombrero. Or a horned Viking helmet. That's when you know you're really reefing.