One of the first hitch-hikers I noticed in Surfquarium after the initial addition of live rock was a rock-boring Urchin (Echinometra sp.). The urchins are so named because it is what they do best. After living in Surfquarium for 1.5 years, my little urchin has grown quite a bit. While I do appreciate the benefits of keeping algae under control... I'm growing less and less fond of the rock-boring activities. On a reef in nature, this is a well documented process known as bioerosion. So long as calcification and reef accretion equal or exceed the rate of bioerosion, it is not so much of a problem in a natural reef environment. In a microreef environment such as Surfquarium however, bioerosion can be more of a problem. I provide you with photo-documentation above of my little Echinometra hard at work (left photo), and the "results" of all that hard work (right photo). Also evident on both photos is the sediment being produced as a byproduct of the bioerosion (yellow arrows). This is how sediment is accumulated both on a natural reef, and in a home aquarium (although parrotfish are responsible for the majority of sediment production in a "healthy" natural reef environment). Despite the fact that the urchin is making minced meat of my not-so-cheap live rock, it is pretty neat to watch one of the natural reef processes unfold within Surfquarium. Alas, if the urchin continues to grow (which undoubtedly will happen) and the bioerosion becomes a huge problem (also quite likely), I suppose I'll have to find a new home for my urchin (someone with a larger tank & more munchable live rock than surfquarium contains).
(note: the left & right photos above are not quite the same scale)
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