Branching GSP for Tank Wall.

[ssunthar]

Hi Experts,

Thinking of fraging Branching GSP to decorate my tank wall.. here are my 2 branches..

Like this GSP because of the color and the waving motion of its long polyps (though many recommended the carpeting type).. any suggestions on how best i can accomplish it? Suggestions and recommendations are welcome.

Side note: Also seen many using pulsating xenid.. interested to try it too.. here is my small frag of pulsating xenid..

Not sure if it will be a good idea? Any reasons I should not? Suggestions and recommendations are welcome.

Thanks.

 

[blaxsun]

Well, it grows like a weed - so you shouldn't have any problem covering your tank wall at some point. But because it grows like a weed, you'll have to keep "pruning" it to ensure it doesn't spread beyond where you want to limit it.

 

[ssunthar]

Well, it grows like a weed - so you shouldn't have any problem covering your tank wall at some point. But because it grows like a weed, you'll have to keep "pruning" it to ensure it doesn't spread beyond where you want to limit it.

Thank you. Any suggestions on 'how to' from the 2 branches in the pic above?

Never done any serious fragging before.... was thinking of cutting it into 4 parts/pieces to be attached in different parts of the tank wall, or should I just keep the 2 branches intact and paste them onto the wall directly? Thanks.

 

[Gup]

Hi Experts,

Thinking of fraging Branching GSP to decorate my tank wall.. here are my 2 branches..

Like this GSP because of the color and the waving motion of its long polyps (though many recommended the carpeting type).. any suggestions on how best i can accomplish it? Suggestions and recommendations are welcome.

Side note: Also seen many using pulsating xenid.. interested to try it too.. here is my small frag of pulsating xenid..

Not sure if it will be a good idea? Any reasons I should not? Suggestions and recommendations are welcome.

Thanks.

I would certainly not go with the Xenia. A while ago I thought about getting one, upon research, way too many horror stories and the photos were frightening.

I took a couple pieces of Marco Rock I had extra. One side, cut apps based for a magnet. I attached GSP to them hear it worked out great for me. Now I just have to wait and watch it grooow

 

[ssunthar]

I would certainly not go with the Xenia. A while ago I thought about getting one, upon research, way too many horror stories and the photos were frightening.

I took a couple pieces of Marco Rock I had extra. One side, cut apps based for a magnet. I attached GSP to them hear it worked out great for me. Now I just have to wait and watch it grooow

Wow great idea... thanks.

Why not Xenia... any specific reasons? Please share the horror stories? Love they way they move the polyps to catch food...

Thanks.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Wow great idea... thanks.

Why not Xenia... any specific reasons? Please share the horror stories? Love they way they move the polyps to catch food...

Thanks.

I think the horror stories he is referring to are how they grow like weeds and can take over tanks , they are known to take over tanks if not isolated properly .

 

[MaxTremors]

Wow great idea... thanks.

Why not Xenia... any specific reasons? Please share the horror stories? Love they way they move the polyps to catch food...

Thanks.

They don’t pulse to catch food. They pulse to increase the rate of photosynthesis (which I suppose is to increase the amount of ‘food’ they get from the zooxanthellae in their tissue).

Why do soft corals like Xenia pulse?

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have discovered why Heteroxenia corals pulsate. Their work, which resolves an old scientific mystery, appears in the current issue of PNAS.

reefs.com

Also, the reason that most people don’t like to use Xenia on their back wall is that it will stick out from the back wall up to six inches (or more), it’s kind of drab colored, it doesn’t look as great in even moderate flow, and because it easily spreads to the rock work (unlike GSP, it will drop polyps which can float to other parts of your rockwork). I also don’t thing branching GSP is a good candidate to grow on the back wall either. Unless your tank is quite large, it would require you to keep your rock work at least 6” away from the back wall (same as Xenia), plus it’s more inclined to branch out from where ever you glue it than it is to spread across the back wall. You’d be far better off getting some regular GSP.

 

[lynaea75]

If you prefer the branching look perhaps you could mix the branching gsp with the encrusting? As to how, the magnet idea will work for the encrusting, but for the branching snip off an inch or so from each branch and glue(?) directly to wall, repeat as new branches grow.
I think it would look awesome in a large tank!

 

[ssunthar]

They don’t pulse to catch food. They pulse to increase the rate of photosynthesis (which I suppose is to increase the amount of ‘food’ they get from the zooxanthellae in their tissue).

Why do soft corals like Xenia pulse?

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have discovered why Heteroxenia corals pulsate. Their work, which resolves an old scientific mystery, appears in the current issue of PNAS.

reefs.com

Also, the reason that most people don’t like to use Xenia on their back wall is that it will stick out from the back wall up to six inches (or more), it’s kind of drab colored, it doesn’t look as great in even moderate flow, and because it easily spreads to the rock work (unlike GSP, it will drop polyps which can float to other parts of your rockwork). I also don’t thing branching GSP is a good candidate to grow on the back wall either. Unless your tank is quite large, it would require you to keep your rock work at least 6” away from the back wall (same as Xenia), plus it’s more inclined to branch out from where ever you glue it than it is to spread across the back wall. You’d be far better off getting some regular GSP.

Thanks, learnt something new today.

 

[ssunthar]

If you prefer the branching look perhaps you could mix the branching gsp with the encrusting? As to how, the magnet idea will work for the encrusting, but for the branching snip off an inch or so from each branch and glue(?) directly to wall, repeat as new branches grow.
I think it would look awesome in a large tank!

Great suggestions, thanks.