GSP will not spread

[Trooper182]

So I have two frags of gsp on their own rocks. Have had them since Oct and both have grown nicely on the frags but stop there. They won't grow onto the rocks. I have tried shifting them so they butt up against the rocks but still won't spread. I know many say be happy because they spread like wildfire but thats what I want for these rocks! My tank has softies and lps and everything seems to be doing fine. Just can't figure out why they won't spread. Tank has been up since Aug last year, 75g with 20 gal sump. These are the parameters I took yesterday. Ones on the sticky note are from lfs water test back in Jan. I dose brs 2 part.

 

[Lavey29]

Nice looking scape. Your notes a little confusing. What is nitrate level? I see 0 phosphate which is bad. You want .05 to .1 phosphate for LPS. Tank has been up for 5 months but still looks very sterile on the rocks. Did you go through some ugly phases?

 

[Trooper182]

Sorry, used a hanna lr nitrate checker so had to convert. Nitrate is 9.5. Yes I have been struggling to keep phosphate up. I tried dosing neophos and it will come up to .03 and thr next day is back to 0. I did go through some uglies with the tank

Nice looking scape. Your notes a little confusing. What is nitrate level? I see 0 phosphate which is bad. You want .05 to .1 phosphate for LPS. Tank has been up for 5 months but still looks very sterile on the rocks. Did you go through some ugly phases?

 

[Trooper182]

Amy ideas on what I should do to help them spread?

 

[Lavey29]

Sorry, used a hanna lr nitrate checker so had to convert. Nitrate is 9.5. Yes I have been struggling to keep phosphate up. I tried dosing neophos and it will come up to .03 and thr next day is back to 0. I did go through some uglies with the tank

Well my zoas were doing similar when my tank was younger like yours but as my parameters got more stable they took off. Feed pellet food to your fish and reef roids to your coral and your phosphate will come up. Your alk is slightly high for your nutrient level. Probably want 8.5 for your level. Check your par over your GSP also to be sure it's adequate.

 

[Trooper182]

Yea I'm going to rent a par meter to check the levels. I currently feed pellets 3 times a day in small amounts in auto feeder and spot feed once a week reef roids. May change it to 2 bigger feedings twice a day and spot feed 2x a week. Also broadcast feed mysis once a week. Also have a few more corals coming this week so will be spot feeding more.

 

[Lavey29]

Yea I'm going to rent a par meter to check the levels. I currently feed pellets 3 times a day in small amounts in auto feeder and spot feed once a week reef roids. May change it to 2 bigger feedings twice a day and spot feed 2x a week. Also broadcast feed mysis once a week. Also have a few more corals coming this week so will be spot feeding more.

It's probably like my zoas. They sat there for a few months and then before I knew it completely took over the tank.

 

[Trooper182]

Yea I'm going to rent a par meter to check the levels. I currently feed pellets 3 times a day in small amounts in auto feeder and spot feed once a week reef roids. May change it to 2 bigger feedings twice a day and spot feed 2x a week. Also broadcast feed mysis once a week. Also have a few more corals coming this week so will be spot feeding more.

 

[EugeneVan]

From my experience with GSP, they don't need strong light. Mine were growing like weed with par around 100. However they do like strong in direct water flow. Once you decide the spot for them, keep them there and not moving them around. It take a month or so for them to get used to the lighting, water flow....and they will start growing like weed. As least my are.....

 

[EugeneVan]

Sorry, used a hanna lr nitrate checker so had to convert. Nitrate is 9.5. Yes I have been struggling to keep phosphate up. I tried dosing neophos and it will come up to .03 and thr next day is back to 0. I did go through some uglies with the tank

I used a dosing pump to do daily dosing of neophos to keep the phosphate level around .03.

 

[Trooper182]

I used a dosing pump to do daily dosing of neophos to keep the phosphate level around .03.

How much do you dose per day?

 

[EugeneVan]

My tank is 210 gal fill with lots of SPS and LPS and I am doing carbon dosing. So your dosing may be different from mine. In my setup I use dosing pump to dose .3 ml every 2 hour and 24/7. My phosphate level according to the Hanna tester is around 0.02 to 0.05

 

[Trooper182]

Ok so yesterday after I tested water I got 0 on my hanna phosphorus ulr. I dosed 13ml of neophos. Just checked again today at the same time and this is what it shows. Unfortunately I didn't realize but I'm out of reagent so have to order more.

 

[mike550]

My experience echoes a lot of what others have said. I had GSP in my tank for a long time and it wouldn’t spread. But then it started to take hold and literally took out about a 12”x5” section of rockwork. Flow is much more important than light. The GSP would look like it’s in a wind tunnel at times (using a reef mode setting) and seemded it was fine. Flow equates to food across the coral and removal of stuff .