When to cut a gsp?

[Sparked]

So I’m fairly new to saltwater still, only had my little 40 gal AIO up and running for 4 months now(I got it already established and had been up for atleast 6months before I got it) one rock has a gsp on it and I want to cut off some and start growing it on the back wall. I know a lot of people say it’s hard work to keep it in check but I love the color and the way it is and really love a back wall gsp for some reason. The gsp I currently have has grown quite abit. In the picture he’s in the bottom left hand corner. He has over grown his rock in 2 diffrent places and has started growing on the sand bed. One spot is about 2.5 inches grown off and would be a decent size piece, I was just wondering if that is a good size piece to cut off and relocate or if I should wait for it to grow more? The tank has a few different corals (don’t ask me to name them because I’m still learning them all and doing my best to keep them all alive which all but one seem to be growing and happy) and also has 2 clown fish, 1 blue sapphire?, 1 shrimp, a couple small crabs with orange stripped legs and a black looking eel fishy guy who looks like he has a mustache and looks like a grumpy old man with busy eye brows lol and one pencil urchin.Sorry for the horriable descriptions but I am still learning. Would any of them interfere with a gsp back wall?

 

[tbrown]

You can take the whole rock and lean it against the back glass with the "fingers" touching the glass and it'll start growing up.

If you want to keep the rock growing out front, then yes, you can cut those fingers off and glue them to the back glass in a couple of locations and start growing them that way as well.

 

[tbrown]

So I’m fairly new to saltwater still, only had my little 40 gal AIO up and running for 4 months now(I got it already established and had been up for atleast 6months before I got it) one rock has a gsp on it and I want to cut off some and start growing it on the back wall. I know a lot of people say it’s hard work to keep it in check but I love the color and the way it is and really love a back wall gsp for some reason. The gsp I currently have has grown quite abit. In the picture he’s in the bottom left hand corner. He has over grown his rock in 2 diffrent places and has started growing on the sand bed. One spot is about 2.5 inches grown off and would be a decent size piece, I was just wondering if that is a good size piece to cut off and relocate or if I should wait for it to grow more? The tank has a few different corals (don’t ask me to name them because I’m still learning them all and doing my best to keep them all alive which all but one seem to be growing and happy) and also has 2 clown fish, 1 blue sapphire?, 1 shrimp, a couple small crabs with orange stripped legs and a black looking eel fishy guy who looks like he has a mustache and looks like a grumpy old man with busy eye brows lol and one pencil urchin.Sorry for the horriable descriptions but I am still learning. Would any of them interfere with a gsp back wall?

Assuming the "eel looking fish" is a Starry Blenny, he won't interfere but mine used to love to hide in the GSP when it grew big and fluffy.

 

[Sparked]

You can take the whole rock and lean it against the back glass with the "fingers" touching the glass and it'll start growing up.

If you want to keep the rock growing out front, then yes, you can cut those fingers off and glue them to the back glass in a couple of locations and start growing them that way as well.

I thought about doing that but I don’t really have enough room to position that rock against the back glass with the way my other rocks are currently set up. I have considering removing some rock (I was told there was about 60lbs when I got it in there and it’s only a 40gallon tank) but most of the rock pieces in the middle of that horriable picture are large pieces so I think I’ll have to cut it to move it either way.

 

[tbrown]

I thought about doing that but I don’t really have enough room to position that rock against the back glass with the way my other rocks are currently set up. I have considering removing some rock (I was told there was about 60lbs when I got it in there and it’s only a 40gallon tank) but most of the rock pieces in the middle of that horriable picture are large pieces so I think I’ll have to cut it to move it either way.

You can definitely leave it where it's at, cut the extra pieces, and then glue them to the back glass.

 

[Sparked]

Assuming the "eel looking fish" is a Starry Blenny, he won't interfere but mine used to love to hide in the GSP when it grew big and fluffy.

That is exactly what he is lol thank you so much. And iv noticed he really likes to hide and chill inside the big rock scape or perch’s on the edges. But when the GSP upfront really comes out and is truely fluffy I have seen him just go and chill on that rock as well so maybe a back wall for him would be nice. Fortunately my clown fish leave the GSP alone although I do need to get something for them to have a home but iv been told to avoid getting an anemone for awhile till my tank is established 1+years because they can be picky and it’s only been a few months since I moved it all.

 

[Sparked]

You can definitely leave it where it's at, cut the extra pieces, and then glue them to the back glass.

Awesome, is there any special way I should cut it or will an extremely sharp razor blade or scissors work? And iv read on other threads to attack to a frag plug then glue that to the back wall because the GSP doesn’t usually like to glue? If I glue the GSP directly would I just use the same reef glue or gorilla gel glue I have been using?

 

[tbrown]

That is exactly what he is lol thank you so much. And iv noticed he really likes to hide and chill inside the big rock scape or perch’s on the edges. But when the GSP upfront really comes out and is truely fluffy I have seen him just go and chill on that rock as well so maybe a back wall for him would be nice. Fortunately my clown fish leave the GSP alone although I do need to get something for them to have a home but iv been told to avoid getting an anemone for awhile till my tank is established 1+years because they can be picky and it’s only been a few months since I moved it all.

Unfortunately most clown fish don't live in anemones in our tanks unless trained to do so. I have several anemones in my tank and my clowns live in the feeding tube. :face-with-tears-of-joy:

 

[tbrown]

Awesome, is there any special way I should cut it or will an extremely sharp razor blade or scissors work? And iv read on other threads to attack to a frag plug then glue that to the back wall because the GSP doesn’t usually like to glue? If I glue the GSP directly would I just use the same reef glue or gorilla gel glue I have been using?

I use scissors.

 

[Sparked]

I use scissors.

So I cut the piece off and glued it to the back wall tonight. I only did one piece for now to see how it responds. If it seems to be doing well I’ll cut the other piece off and glue it to the other side but I wanted to see how this one would perform first

 

[tbrown]

So I cut the piece off and glued it to the back wall tonight. I only did one piece for now to see how it responds. If it seems to be doing well I’ll cut the other piece off and glue it to the other side but I wanted to see how this one would perform first

So long as it is happy and opens, it should start to grow on the glass and you'll have a nice mat.

 

[Sparked]

So long as it is happy and opens, it should start to grow on the glass and you'll have a nice mat.

It hasn’t opened since I put it up there a couple hours ago but I’m pretty sure it’s just ticked off right now lol, I know I wouldn’t open for abit if someone cut me off and glued me to a wall lol. I’ll update with its status if I see a change

 

[tbrown]

It hasn’t opened since I put it up there a couple hours ago but I’m pretty sure it’s just ticked off right now lol, I know I wouldn’t open for abit if someone cut me off and glued me to a wall lol. I’ll update with its status if I see a change

My GSP will stay closed for a day or two after cutting and after moving.

 

[Sparked]

My GSP will stay closed for a day or two after cutting and after moving.

I thought mine would but both the original and the cut piece are fully opened today and looking happy lol

 

[tbrown]

Great news! It'll be a mat before you know it.

 

[JoJosReef]

As the GSP rock keeps growing, cut offf more pieces and stick them to bare slots on the back wall. Before long you'll have a lot of coverage!

 

[Sparked]

As the GSP rock keeps growing, cut offf more pieces and stick them to bare slots on the back wall. Before long you'll have a lot of coverage!

That’s what I planned on doing lol, there is one other over growth currently I’m going to cut and glue to the other side of the back wall, then as you said let the rock grow out and keep cutting and glueing. Here’s the cut piece today looking happy to me

 

[exnisstech]

I have gsp in 3 tanks. Nothing wrong with cutting it but I ussualy just rip pieces off. This is the only tank that has it on the back wall right now. When I want a piece I just reach in with some long forceps and rip some off. I love the color but don't like that it's brighter than any of my acros lol.

 

[JoJosReef]

I have gsp in 3 tanks. Nothing wrong with cutting it but I ussualy just rip pieces off. This is the only tank that has it on the back wall right now. When I want a piece I just reach in with some long forceps and rip some off. I love the color but don't like that it's brighter than any of my acros lol.

Yeah, and it's annoying when non-reefers see your tank and go all googly eye over your GSP and completely ignore your carefully doted on SPS.

 

[Sparked]

I have gsp in 3 tanks. Nothing wrong with cutting it but I ussualy just rip pieces off. This is the only tank that has it on the back wall right now. When I want a piece I just reach in with some long forceps and rip some off. I love the color but don't like that it's brighter than any of my acros lol.

That looks amazing compared to my bare and empty tank lol. And to be honest there isn’t much to look at in my tank besides one candy cane coral that isn’t doing much lol, a couple diffrent zoas that are slowly growing and spreading, a few orange mushroom looking guys who are pretty cool, then one last coral that I have no clue what it is or if it’s even happy lol. Other than that it’s pretty empty aside from the fishes that are in there. I was planning on getting more corals and expanding my coral selection to look more diverse and add more color and such but i haven’t done that yet because i aquired a 125 gal tank/sump/stand and other various pieces the only thing i need to get to set that tank up is some lights which im saving up for and when i get it up and running a lot of what’s in the 40 gal will go over to that tank and then the 40 gal I will keep up and running just haven’t decided what I want to do with it yet.