Does gsp only "carpet" to spread?

[laezur]

I tried epoxying mine to the back wall and it just wasn't having it, and fell off the frag plug. All of my rocks are connected, so I wanted to put it on the overflow box. For some reason I can never get this stuff to actually stick to anything, and when I mess about with it too much I've ended up ticking it off so much in the past that it just never comes out again.

Annoying little coral to deal with, even though I have a strange love for it. Maybe I'll try again glueing it tonight, but the glue I have just instantly hardens as soon as it even glances at the water.

 

[Scooter21]

I tried epoxying mine to the back wall and it just wasn't having it, and fell off the frag plug. All of my rocks are connected, so I wanted to put it on the overflow box. For some reason I can never get this stuff to actually stick to anything, and when I mess about with it too much I've ended up ticking it off so much in the past that it just never comes out again.

Annoying little coral to deal with, even though I have a strange love for it. Maybe I'll try again glueing it tonight, but the glue I have just instantly hardens as soon as it even glances at the water.

I've been gluing it outside the water. I've glued it on 3 occasions now. Twice on to a rubble rock and now this. I take the rubble rock out, use a paper towel to dab it dry. Use the paper towel to dab the underside of the gsp. I put some gel glue on the underside of the gsp and then smashed it in place.

For this, I put glue on both the structure and the gsp and then waited 30 seconds or so and then smashed them in place.


I think having everything dry is fairly critical

 

[Scooter21]

I tried epoxying mine to the back wall and it just wasn't having it, and fell off the frag plug. All of my rocks are connected, so I wanted to put it on the overflow box. For some reason I can never get this stuff to actually stick to anything, and when I mess about with it too much I've ended up ticking it off so much in the past that it just never comes out again.

Annoying little coral to deal with, even though I have a strange love for it. Maybe I'll try again glueing it tonight, but the glue I have just instantly hardens as soon as it even glances at the water.

To add.... I'd either do it during a water change and drain some water out or glue it to some rock and put next to the glass and have it grow on its own. Or get a magnetic frag rack and have it grow off the rack on to the glass and then later remove the rack

 

[laezur]

To add.... I'd either do it during a water change and drain some water out or glue it to some rock and put next to the glass and have it grow on its own. Or get a magnetic frag rack and have it grow off the rack on to the glass and then later remove the rack

I didn’t think about using a drag rack, that’s not a bad idea but then how do I get rid of the rack once it attaches to the wall? Do I just pull it away? I definitely want it up the back wall and not the glass

 

[Scooter21]

I didn’t think about using a drag rack, that’s not a bad idea but then how do I get rid of the rack once it attaches to the wall? Do I just pull it away? I definitely want it up the back wall and not the glass

I can't tell you for sure but I think it would definitely work to wait until it really takes hold and spreads and then use some scissors to cut the mat in half, leaving some on the rack and some on the glass

 

[Scooter21]

We have active polyps on 3/4 specs that I glued on. One looks like it may have died. I probably covered it in superglue.

 

[vtecintegra]

I'm doing something similar. I got a good size branch rock and glued pieces of gsp on it.

 

[Scooter21]

I'm doing something similar. I got a good size branch rock and glued pieces of gsp on it.View attachment 3091633

Nice! How big is that branch? It looks huge.

I'm hoping it doesn't take too incredibly long to encrust the entire structure I made but I have a feeling it'll take like a year

 

[vtecintegra]

Probably 16 or 17 inches. Tank is 24" tall.

 

[blecki]

You might think you've just got the encrusting kind and not the branching kind, but the thing is, when this little devil coral runs out of things that are easy to grow on it will grow on anything and everything else, including itself. I've seen the normal flat sheet kind grow arms, and the branchy kind grow nice flat sheets. I'm not convinced they are actually different species.

You cannot isolate it with sand - not for long, anyway. You can't isolate it with other corals - the GSP will win in the end. You can't even isolate it on the glass because if this thing runs out of places to grow and starts growing branches, it will frag itself. In fact the only way I have found to reliably contain it is to surround it with BTAs.

But at least you can just rip an arm off whenever you want to curse a reef newcomer with this devilish beast; I do it all the time. When I moved my old tank about 4 years ago I sold 50-some lbs of GSP covered rock, bought new rock, and kept a single 4-inch diameter colony. A year ago when I moved I did it again. Today I've got two 12 inch colonies - nothing out grows GSP. I like the way it looks and will probably end up letting it cover a large portion of my current tank, but dang if it isn't invasive.

 

[HawkeyeDJ]

The reason I ask, I want to build a structure for it to grow on. Like a fake SPS coral. I'm trying to work out how tight the branches can be before it just ends up as a big blob

I love this idea. I may steal it.

I currently have a softball sized GSP on a rock, which sits on a 4x6 sheet of acrylic on the sand bed. The mat grows out onto the acrylic and about every 1-2 months I frag the new mat. I glue the new mat onto frag plugs, let them cover the plugs (about a month) and trade them with my LFS for credit.

But your idea of creating unique structures to grow GSP is awesome. Gonna have to give this some serious thought.

 

[geeked]

There is a branching type of GSP. Doesn't grow on anything just branches out with soft branches

 

[Coinzmans Reef]

Spread ? Yes Yes and YES I have had rocks up to three inches away over time they will reach their goal.

 

[Scooter21]

Spread ? Yes Yes and YES I have had rocks up to three inches away over time they will reach their goal.

I always thought the point of isolating it was that you can pull the rock out and trim it

 

[Coinzmans Reef]

I always thought the point of isolating it was that you can pull the rock out and trim it

True, but if your lazy or preoccupied with all the other issues in the tank it gets forgotten about until you know its time to trim the GSP but it is already to late because while you were dozing off the invasion has already occurred.

Mine spreads like a carpet until there is nothing to spread to than it grows the soft branches until it finds something suitable to attach to.

Also I have noticed at times the polyps retract for some length time (weeks) and than the expansion happens.

I bought a $20 frag three years ago 1"x1" I would say with what I have given away and traded it would cover a 2'x2' area.
I had to remove it from my display tank (to invasive) to my tank for misfit corals. These are where all my bad choices and broken or trimmed corals go. This tank is also my QT tank. I keep the tank stocked in case I need to add to the DT or I upgrade The DT. (thinking 200 ext Innovative Marine)

I just put a small square back in the DT for a couple of weeks, I needed to fill a bare spot under the Nem. Laziness let it spread to the rocks before I could take it out. However the Nem has finally started to split again so this whole are will be rebooted.

 

[ReefEco]

Here's a possible option for growing corals on your back wall : )

 

[Spicy Reef]

Wish I had before and after shots... oh wait
apologize in advance for the horrible pics, I think they make the point though...

you can see the "white-ish/gray" areas, that's the "carpet as you say growing/reaching out. so this thing has almost doubled in sized. It has tried but can not reach/grow down. Not enough light I guess.

 

[geeked]

Wish I had before and after shots... oh wait
apologize in advance for the horrible pics, I think they make the point though...
View attachment 3127965


View attachment 3127966
you can see the "white-ish/gray" areas, that's the "carpet as you say growing/reaching out. so this thing has almost doubled in sized. It has tried but can not reach/grow down. Not enough light I guess.

How old is your Salfin tang? Looks completely different than mine but mine is 3 years old, still looks like a juvenile.

 

[Spicy Reef]

How old is your Salfin tang? Looks completely different than mine but mine is 3 years old, still looks like a juvenile.

This one is the Desjardin's Sailfin Tang. He's about 4years old. Maybe it's not the same?

 

[geeked]

This one is the Desjardin's Sailfin Tang. He's about 4years old. Maybe it's not the same?

Yeah I ended up googling them. Didn't realize there were different types. Desjardins look nice.