Here is a 6 gallon I put together for my son. It is an Evolve 8 but the actual volume is 6 gallons. Only one fish -- a PJ -- with a cleaner shrimp, feather duster, camel shrimp and a dangerous little reef lobster lurking about.
Yup. A small pencil urchin. I'm fighting a war on hair algae right now -- I seem to be gaining some ground lately. I wonder if it has anything to do with my son having the lights on more than 12 hours a day? LOL
Hiya Kewl! Wish my 4 gallon looked this nice! Yes, keeping the lights on that long can help algae growth. I'd cut it back to 8 hours. Kim/Benton, AR
We're having the same fight against hair algae in our 6-gallon, and we only have the lights on 8-hours/day (for that reason). We were thinking about a pencil urchin but read that a tuxedo urchin is more reef-safe.
Waterlogged, I think that urchins are very interesting to watch and a nice addition -- not all are reef safe of course. Regarding the pencil urchin, it eats some hair algae but I'm sure eats as much coraline algae. Doesn't seem to have any preference. I'm just trying to step up water changes mostly. Some report good success with red leg or blue leg hermits... some say sea hares, lettuce nudibranches, turbo snails or lawn mower blenny. But... for a nano the water changes are probably the biggest impact. Love the urchins but I haven't seen a big impact against nuisance algae. Corey
I fought hair algae for months then I scrubbed all of the hair algae off with a tooth brush. It never came back.