GSP on back wall: too big and blocking itself from light?

[testuser]

I think that I know the answer, but wanted to ask the group here. I decided to attach some GSP to the rear wall of the tank back in October. It's grown more so in length for each polyp and looks great. However, it's cast a pretty big shadow over its lower half. Therefore, a few of those polyps don't get any meaningful amount of light and I think are dying off. Is this to be expected, and what would the suggestion be for a small tank like mine? Should I move this large plate to the substrate, or leave it on the wall? Attached is an older picture, but you can kind of see what I'm talking about in this one. It's crazy how much larger it's gotten since then.

 

[musel101]

I think that I know the answer, but wanted to ask the group here. I decided to attach some GSP to the rear wall of the tank back in October. It's grown more so in length for each polyp and looks great. However, it's cast a pretty big shadow over its lower half. Therefore, a few of those polyps don't get any meaningful amount of light and I think are dying off. Is this to be expected, and what would the suggestion be for a small tank like mine? Should I move this large plate to the substrate, or leave it on the wall? Attached is an older picture, but you can kind of see what I'm talking about in this one. It's crazy how much larger it's gotten since then.

I had this happen to me with a couple of Duncan corals. I ended up just placing them in the sand bed so they got light all around and they grew big.
But if your goal is to get that Greenstar polyp to cover that back wall, you need to put it on a way flatter piece of rock on that wall it’ll spread nicer

 

[mfinn]

I would leave it on the wall. It will spread sideways and up.
The lower part will gradually fade away.

 

[TARHEEL78]

Let it spread on to the wall and then cut the big lump off, it will grow down after that....and everywhere else it can possible grow.

 

[Harpo]

I always wanted to do this and have my entire back wall covered in GSP

 

[testuser]

Thank you for the input, everyone!

 

[wisnia99]

It will grow up and to the sides. This is what happened in 4 months from a small plug

 

[musel101]

It will grow up and to the sides. This is what happened in 4 months from a small plug

Nice job looks spectacular

 

[testuser]

It will grow up and to the sides. This is what happened in 4 months from a small plug

Insane! That looks amazing. Mine... does not grow that quickly lol. It's been 4 months for me with this GSP, and it's grown just slightly more than the picture I posted. Maybe my plate isn't flat enough like someone else said, but I feel like since it can grow on rocks, it can make a 2mm leap. Well, here's hoping! Thanks for the motivation!

 

[wisnia99]

In this pic you can see how big it actually is this is a 220gal 6' long tank

 

[testuser]

In this pic you can see how big it actually is this is a 220gal 6' long tank

Absolutely gorgeous, what a beautiful tank! That's so nice! That green patch in that position is like the sun for that scenery haha

 

[Badblackdog]

I always wanted to do this and have my entire back wall covered in GSP

Get a good frag, glue it and let it grow. Mine was growing so fast it started to clog the overflow weir and raised my tank level slightly. Start it in the middle so it grows up towards the light.