Green star polyp not spreading

[FRANK48]

I have green star polyps and they look quite happy but they aren’t spreading to other rocks. I’ve had it for about 2 months now and haven’t seen any new growth

 

[ClownWrangler]

Many people see GSP as a nuisance weed here, so expect some unsavory responses to this. Lol. It will take off in a few months, it might just be adjusting. Branching GSP is better if you want it to take over your tank. Try feeding it pretty much any kind of coral food.

 

[Uncle99]

I have green star polyps and they look quite happy but they aren’t spreading to other rocks. I’ve had it for about 2 months now and haven’t seen any new growth

Pic?
Parameters?

 

[FRANK48]

Pic?
Parameters?

Salinity is 1.025
Alk is 9
Nitrate 5

I think maybe it’s my light since my other coral aren’t doing so well

 

[Doctorgori]

I have green star polyps and they look quite happy but they aren’t spreading to other rocks. I’ve had it for about 2 months now and haven’t seen any new growth

Many people see GSP as a nuisance weed here, so expect some unsavory responses to this. Lol. It will take off in a few months, it might just be adjusting. Branching GSP is better if you want it to take over your tank. Try feeding it pretty much any kind of coral food.

Unsavory responses? that’s called a “spoiler alert”
But yes, in a “be careful what you wish for” world, complaining that GSP isn’t spreading is pushing it

 

[FRANK48]

Unsavory responses? that’s called a “spoiler alert”
But yes, in a “be careful what you wish for” world, complaining that GSP isn’t spreading is pushing it

But what could be the reason for it not spreading ?

 

[Doctorgori]

But what could be the reason for it not spreading ?

I can guarantee if you place it next to your Walt Disney acro you will see explosive growth….
seriously tho…
No telling, it can go crazy for weeks then slow down and hardly grow…I have a colony of both branching and encrusting and they just go through spurts.

For less scientific anecdotal stuff; try iodide, that is if you can reliably test for it. I use Kent or Seachem and Red Sea colors for testing. Also seemed my softies loved SeaChems Reef Plus… could be snake oil but it sure seemed so…
Added: with GSP flow does matter a lot, as in a healthy flow. It has a broad range of tolerances and Lighting intensity short of total darkness, doesn’t seem to really affect it AFAIK

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I once grew GSP’s in a toilet using salt packets from Wendy’s, with a heat lamp.

That said, almost every tank I set up gets an island for gap’s.

 

[Doctorgori]

I once grew GSP’s in a toilet using salt packets from Wendy’s, with a heat lamp.

That said, almost every tank I set up gets an island for gap’s.

yeah but that’s not really scientific because you were
constantly adding both liquid and solid ferts to the tank. Did you log your dosing regime?

 

[downonthereef]

I have green star polyps and they look quite happy but they aren’t spreading to other rocks. I’ve had it for about 2 months now and haven’t seen any new growth

The more there is, the faster it grows, it took mine almost 6 months to cover the little rock it was on. 90% of that growth being in the last 2 months

 

[Gtinnel]

GSP has never been quick growing in my tank either, and I've always wondered if it is because I have a relatively low nutrient system. I've always heard the GSP prefers "dirtier" water, which is what makes me wonder if it has to do with nutrients.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Did you log your dosing regimen

I mostly used logs.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Me and my old roommate both started reefing at the same time. We had the same light same source water and same salt (we shared all equipment and both had blackboxes at the time). Despite this my gsp covered one rock and stopped spreading for 6 years before the tank failed. His covered the whole back of his tank and half his rockwork in under one year. Gsp seems like one of those coral some people have problems getting it to grow others find it invasive.

 

[Paul B]

It runs in cycles and most people don't keep a tank long enough to see this. After saying that I, or no one else knows what makes it grow or not grow,

I only have a piece of it now about 8" wide but It used to be all over the place. Now it receeded to one place and in a year or two, maybe five, it will again cover everything.

I kind of like it.

 

[Pntbll687]

Salinity is 1.025
Alk is 9
Nitrate 5

I think maybe it’s my light since my other coral aren’t doing so well

Bump those nitrates up to the 20-30 range or even higher if you want to see growth. I would also recommend a phosphate level ABOVE 0.1 if really want GSP to grow.

Give it consistently high nutrients and time, you'll have growth in no time.

Now, growing gsp is one thing, keeping everything else in the tank happy is another.

 

[Gtinnel]

It runs in cycles and most people don't keep a tank long enough to see this. After saying that I, or no one else knows what makes it grow or not grow,

I only have a piece of it now about 8" wide but It used to be all over the place. Now it receeded to one place and in a year or two, maybe five, it will again cover everything.

I kind of like it.

As many decades as you have had your tank this may be a stupid question, but do you see any parameter changes from the times when it spreads quickly versus when it doesn't? Does anything else in the tank change at the same time?
It's hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that GSP changes growth rates on any kind of cyclical basis, and those changes aren't somehow linked to water parameters. Even if it is effected by something that we don't traditionally test for.

 

[LuizW13]

Can you post a picture of your GSP?

They say you can't kill GSP- but I have. And in my case, I believe it was the light (aquamaxx prism) I was using when I first started.

In my opinion, I don't think your 'low' nutrients is 100% at fault for it not growing and spreading. My system was running at Ultra Ultra Low Nutrients for months and months when I upgraded to AI Hydra 26- and in that time the new GSP I had bought at the store took over the rock it came with, traveled across the sand from it's rock island and grew up onto one of my main rocks.

Last month, I accidentally knocked my mp10 dry side and broke it, and had to temporarily replace it with a small, less powerful pump. My flow set up prior to this happening was an mp10 on the opposite side of the tank pointing to the gsp side, and an Aqamai KPS parallel to the mp10. I took out the mp10, shifted the kps to where the mp10 was, and filled in the original kps location with a small ac Hydor pump. I mention this because for about a week, both gsp 'colonies' closed up. They have since acclimated to the flow and are back to normal.
Could it really be lack of flow, or just different flow pattern in general?

In summary, my anecdotal experience is that GSP likes good sps-type flow and proper reef lights.

I'll post a quick video of the GSP below in a few minutes.

 

[Paul B]

As many decades as you have had your tank this may be a stupid question, but do you see any parameter changes from the times when it spreads quickly versus when it doesn't?

Gtinnel, I really don't test parameters except calcium and alk and even those it is rare. For the majority of my tanks life, maybe the first 40 years I didn't test anything except maybe nitrate occasionally.

But I see many cycles not only with GSPs but with everything.
I can give some examples. See here in my tank maybe 35 or so years ago. I had those leather corals growing out the top of the tank. They grew for a few years and all of a sudden they shrunk and eventually disappeared and something else, maybe star polyps or mushrooms (I don't remember) took over.





There was a few years when these acropora's grew like weeds. I hardly had to buy any as I had to many and had to keep cutting them. Then they shrunk and now I only have a few very slow growing ones.



This thing was a tiny mushroom for years, all of a sudden it grew 10" and stayed like that for a few years. Then it shrunk down to an inch or two.

A few years ago montipora covered my tank. Now it is gone.





Those two above pictures are reversed.

See the algae here? It covered everything and drove me nuts. Then disappeared with no help from me.


Most people don't keep a tank long enough to notice cycles but I never change my practices so I have no idea what causes it. But if you only keep a tank for 5 or 6 years, you won't see anything.

I personally think it has something to do with the coral themselves. As you know all corals exude chemicals into the water and those chemicals are designed to keep other corals from overgrowing them. Maybe in certain times with certain corals those chemicals are either stronger or more specifically designed to repel a type of coral we are keeping. I am guessing here but it is my only explanation and we almost never discuss coral wars which is a very real thing as far as corals are concerned.

Remember corals spawn in relation to cycles of the moon, maybe they get confused in a tank, I don't know.

We only discuss parameters but the sea is way more complex than parameters and those things we can't measure and I am sure that is the reason some of us can't keep certain corals while others have problems with them overgrowing a tank.
Mushrooms come to mind. Sometimes they are a pest and we can't get rid of them and some of us (like star polyps) won't grow no matter what we do.

 

[Gtinnel]

Gtinnel, I really don't test parameters except calcium and alk and even those it is rare. For the majority of my tanks life, maybe the first 40 years I didn't test anything except maybe nitrate occasionally.

But I see many cycles not only with GSPs but with everything.
I can give some examples. See here in my tank maybe 35 or so years ago. I had those leather corals growing out the top of the tank. They grew for a few years and all of a sudden they shrunk and eventually disappeared and something else, maybe star polyps or mushrooms (I don't remember) took over.





There was a few years when these acropora's grew like weeds. I hardly had to buy any as I had to many and had to keep cutting them. Then they shrunk and now I only have a few very slow growing ones.



This thing was a tiny mushroom for years, all of a sudden it grew 10" and stayed like that for a few years. Then it shrunk down to an inch or two.

A few years ago montipora covered my tank. Now it is gone.





Those two above pictures are reversed.

See the algae here? It covered everything and drove me nuts. Then disappeared with no help from me.


Most people don't keep a tank long enough to notice cycles but I never change my practices so I have no idea what causes it. But if you only keep a tank for 5 or 6 years, you won't see anything.

I personally think it has something to do with the coral themselves. As you know all corals exude chemicals into the water and those chemicals are designed to keep other corals from overgrowing them. Maybe in certain times with certain corals those chemicals are either stronger or more specifically designed to repel a type of coral we are keeping. I am guessing here but it is my only explanation and we almost never discuss coral wars which is a very real thing as far as corals are concerned.

Remember corals spawn in relation to cycles of the moon, maybe they get confused in a tank, I don't know.

We only discuss parameters but the sea is way more complex than parameters and those things we can't measure and I am sure that is the reason some of us can't keep certain corals while others have problems with them overgrowing a tank.
Mushrooms come to mind. Sometimes they are a pest and we can't get rid of them and some of us (like star polyps) won't grow no matter what we do.

I find it fascinating the insight from someone who has had a tank that has been around for what nearly 50 years. I also agree with you that the water chemistry can't be defined by the few parameters that we as hobbyists test for. Even an icp test I'm sure isn't going to cover everything. Your theory of it being chemical warfare from corals that causes a certain coral to struggle/die in a specific tank seems feasible to me. It's not uncommon for someone who has a beautiful healthy tank to say that there is some common, generally easy to keep coral which they can't keep alive.

I wonder how much of this could be attributed to a specific coral adjusting to the parameters of a specific tank. Then once it adjusts its growth takes off quickly, until something else becomes more efficient and out competes it for space and nutrients.

It's truly amazing to me how complex a small box of water can be.

 

[Paul B]

True, we never take into the equation the chemicals that everything including bristleworms, pods, bacteria, anemones, algae etc. add to the water.

We look at parameters which are what, 4 or 5 parameters all of which are minerals and none of which are chemicals exuded by the animals themselves in a "closed" system where they can build up until something either suffers or benefits.

This is also the reason (I think) why some new tanks thrive and some crash.

Look at all that stuff our skimmers pull out. It is all chemical, not mineral and where do you think those chemicals come from?

Skimmers are hardly 100% efficient and many things, maybe most things are not skimmed out.
We need to start thinking past these silly never ending threads and not just come up with things like alkalinity, iodine, salinity and phosphorous which may be just the minority of issues many people see.