Can’t grow GSP

[vsciacca]

I’ve tried growing gsp in my tank for close to a year now and it has died every time. I even got a free colony from a friend that at least 6”x4” and that one died too. Not sure why I can’t get them to grow. I recently added a branching gsp frag. Initially it would open up and looked decent but never great. Over a few weeks less and less heads would open up. Now it’s been a week since I’ve seen any sort of life from it. All other corals (mushrooms, acans, lepta, torch, sps, and others) are doing really well and have grown significantly since I added them to the tank.

I did have an outbreak of red slime algae after some issues with overfeeding when I had a friend taking care of the tank. I noticed the gsp was getting covered with this algae almost daily. I was regularly trying to syphon the algae off or brush it off. Algae is under control now and slowly disappearing but no change in the gsp.

The tank is 1.5 years old; 16 gallon display tank with a 10 gallon sump (refugium, skimmer, biomedia, filter sock); stock includes 4 fish, several hermits and snails, shrimp, emerald crab, corals, and a bta; salinity is 1.025; alk is 8.3; calcium is 430; mag is 1140; nitrates and phosphates have fluctuated in the last two weeks from very high to now a reasonable level of nitrates around 5-10; I don’t have a Hanna for phosphate but my salifert test is reading a level around 0.03-0.1. Temperature stays at 75-76. I have had the gsp in several different areas in the tank. Currently it is about 20” from my light. Also not sure if this matters, but I’ve had a very hard time getting coralline algae to grow. There are only a few small areas where coralline is growing

Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to get as many details out there as possible. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Vince

 

[TX_REEF]

GSP are hardy in the sense that they don't die easily, but they are also sensitive to rapid parameter swings and will close up, sometimes for over a week, when they are unhappy. Rapid and significant swings in nitrate and phosphate are likely the culprit in your case. I notice the frags you have pictured have some algae growing on them. GSP also love lots of flow, which keeps detritus from settling and algae from growing on them. I have LOTS of flow in my frag tank, and the GSP there love it. GSP does not grow as well in my display, which has gentler flow.

So key takeaways, stable parameters and high flow for GSP success, in my experience.

 

[vsciacca]

GSP are hardy in the sense that they don't die easily, but they are also sensitive to rapid parameter swings and will close up, sometimes for over a week, when they are unhappy. Rapid and significant swings in nitrate and phosphate are likely the culprit in your case. I notice the frags you have pictured have some algae growing on them. GSP also love lots of flow, which keeps detritus from settling and algae from growing on them. I have LOTS of flow in my frag tank, and the GSP there love it. GSP does not grow as well in my display, which has gentler flow.

So key takeaways, stable parameters and high flow for GSP success, in my experience.

I definitely think the algae growth has impacted the gsp. This wasn’t an issue in the past but like I said I had an algae growth explosion. I haven’t however placed any of the gsp I’ve had in front of the power head. I’ve put it in relatively high flow areas but probably not in the path of direct flow. That’s probably the only place I haven’t tried growing it so I’ll try moving it there. Would love to see it finally do well. Thanks for the input. Any suggestions on trying to get my coralline algae to take hold would also be appreciated!

 

[TX_REEF]

I definitely think the algae growth has impacted the gsp. This wasn’t an issue in the past but like I said I had an algae growth explosion. I haven’t however placed any of the gsp I’ve had in front of the power head. I’ve put it in relatively high flow areas but probably not in the path of direct flow. That’s probably the only place I haven’t tried growing it so I’ll try moving it there. Would love to see it finally do well. Thanks for the input. Any suggestions on trying to get my coralline algae to take hold would also be appreciated!

stability should be the main goal. Stability will also support your coralline algae growth.