Growth Rate of Green Star Polyps

[Mitchell0605]

Hey Guys,
I suffered a coral crash due to my absence and some hot temps so I'm in the progress of restocking. I was wondering how fast Green Star Polyps grow/encrust. My lights are actinics and my tank is 16'' (40.5cm) tall.

[melosu58]

It`s really dependent on water quality. As close to pristine conditions the better and faster they will grow. GSP are kind of picky anyway.

[Bige]

It can grow very fast if happy. I have removed and sold about 100 bucks worth. I am going to remove soon. It does not come off easily. It is taking over everything. Anemone is only thing holding it back. It is even growing on back wall.

[Bige]

as you can see in close up shot, it is covering other coral.

[mike011689]

My lights are actinics and my tank is 16''

firstly, actinics do not help with coral growth. They're for color for the most part. So if that is your only light, you wont grow much of anything. Might stay alive for a while, but nothing will grow.

As for the height... totally depends on the type of light you're using. I'm assuming its not a metal halide since you say its actinic...they dont make an actinic halide.

I had 4x96w PC over my 40 breeder (which was also 16" high). Growth was "ok"...but not great. Color wasnt great either and i was somewhat limited to softies and some lps. SPS just browned out but stayed alive. I switched to 4x39w T5 HO and that was a completely different story. I grew everything i wanted with AWESOME color and AWESOME growth rate. A thousand times better than pc's.

Sorry for the rant...basically what i'm trying to say is...there are too many variables to tell you exactly how fast GSP will grow...light being the most important. The brighter the light, the better for GSP. I've had gsp go from a half inch piece to a foot across in less than a year under good lighting.

[ares]

@Bige How do you go about removing them? I was having a similar problem before my tank crash and was thinking about getting more, but I don't want them to overwhelm my tank again.

[austinsdad]

Mine always peeled off like a tight rubber glove. Not all in one piece sometimes, but it came off.

[Bige]

Mine seems to be thin. Or maybe its the rocks. It holds on tight. I tried to cut it into small peices with an xacto knife and then remove but not much luck. When I get a hold of it it rips apart. When I say get rid of it, I mean sell the rocks its is on.

[Mitchell0605]

Growing on the back wall sounds sweet.

[Bige]

the back wall is pretty cool. I think I could peel it off but it seems like I am in control of it.

[austinsdad]

Well, if you ever wanted to get it off the wall, that's the easiest place to remove it from. Use your algae scraper.

[Mitchell0605]

It would be the easiest place to frag them from too IMO.

[Bige]

Thats true. No place around here takes gsp. I filled them up! Actually talked to lfs on sat and they are willing to take my rocks. So I will have a little store credit.

[Mitchell0605]

Cool.