I recently picked up 3 new acan frags. I currently have a few in my tank that have been growing very well. The thing I hate is when the new polyps start growing down the sides of the coral skeleton base. So with my new ones I had the idea of "trimming" the base so I could stick the acan frag on some lr rubble and hope for it to grow out on the lr, not down. So , tonight I picked up a dremel and the diamond "wheel" to try my luck. I did get them trimmed down but I still don't know if it is enough or not. Will my idea even work? I also had a head time cutting all the way through, it was for sure a lot harder than I thought it would be. Is there ay other methods I could try?

Any one?

Some of the frags I started out with a while ago that are place in teh display on the lr grew all down the side of the frag. After that will they start to grow straight over the piece of rock it is sitting on? I just don't want them to stop growing...

They will continue to grow but I don't know if they will grow out onto the rock...I tend to think they will start going outward like a favia or a chalice....growht patterns are usually somewhat regular within a species and MOST of the large acan colonies I see tend to be like big flat flows of polyps....

As for other ways of cutting, my buddy has a little band saw with a thin diamond blade that is just amazing to watch cut between the polyps....he uses it for everything...

So you think once they get the side of their skeleton full with polyps it will not grow outward on the LR and they sill stop growing? They have to grow some way....I guess I just don't understant their growth after growing on the side of the base skeleton.

I've got a few colonies. They grow down the side of the skeleton first then build new skeleton under themselves and spread out.

Probably not a great idea to cut them off the side, just wait until they grow out a bit more.

I use a tile saw to cut mine. They're cheap. You don't have to worry about cutting between heads either as the cut heads will grow back into full heads soon. They're hardy.

I have heard of some people using dremels as well.

I dremel mine and use a hammer and chisel to finish off the cuts if the dremel can't go all the way through.

Small water cooled band saw is the best option followed by a Dremmel and diamond wheel for cutting. Its important to only cut to the base of the skeleton with the Dremmel as the friction from the cutting wheel creates allot of heat which can burn the Acan. After that either use a chisel or scalpel to cut the flesh and rest of the way through. Rest it on live rock rubble etc and it will grow out and over it.

Here's a step by step pictorial on Fragging Acans for you:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t=0&start=0

they will grow out from the rocks or frag plugs!i cut mines with dremel.i start cutting the acans underneath of it.or sometimes i bring to my LFS to cut it with their diamond saw.

+1 on weeties step-by-step....it's worked well for me as well!!!

my acan frag started out on its own skeleton base with three heads. i placed it on a larger piece of live rock and after about a year it grew over its skeleton and is now attached to the live rock with over 25 heads. Its also growing onto adjacent rocks. I think its a reasonable idea to put frag rocks next to the overhang of tissue and see what happens, in fact, i might try it.

I use a diamond band saw

^^ Wish I had one of those. They're the best for fragging acans.

please point me to this small water cooled bandsaw if you can Id be interested in one if they are reasonable
thanks

Lowes has them for around $120.00

well the guy on the phone didnt have a clue and cant find it online. I assume you saw it at the store yes ? I guess I might have to make a trip down there. I have some ACAN's that the base is way to thick to try a dremel

So it has to be cooled by water? Because I dont think lowes sells ones like that?

If it is just a regular band saw/diamond blade, could we just keep splashing water on it?

Dremel Tool: $38
Diamond tip circular blade: $20
Conservation through propagation: PRICELE$$

one of those cheap tile saws with the dimond blade would work as well and they are water cooled
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...Itemnumber=3733
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...&lpage=none


a dremel with the good diamond blade worked well for me
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/AttachmentsAnd....aspx?pid=EZ545

YESSSS I LOVE THIS POST MAN!!! KEEP UP THE LOVE!

In terms of quality and longevity you'd want to try a Gryphon C-40, but don't use the stock blades since they're copper coated, you'd need blades from the Inland DB-100. The Inland DB-100 bandsaw is lower priced and lower quality, but for non-commercial fragging they do very well. Neither lowe's nor any home deparment store will carry these.

A dremel will work well for colonies that are thin enough, but to frag a thicker LPS or SPS colony one of the above mentioned bandsaws is the safest and least destructive route.

the diamond wheel only cost me $9 at lowes. but the adapter was another 10...

my dremel tool was 80...went all out on the best one.
spins super fast at max.i set it at lvl 10 out of 35

My local reef club just had a demo at a meeting the other night of this saw.
It works very well, its made almost totally of plastic, so it won't corrode, and it is supposed to be essentially water-proof. It's even marketed as a fragging saw.
I tried it on a chalice colony that was brought for people to try it with, it cuts very well. Kinda spendy, and I can see how it may have possible quality issues in the future, but I bet if cared for properly, it could give years of service to someone who frags a ton of corals.

Nothing's coming up for me on the link, but the inland ones tend to crap out within a year or so on average if used for consistent fragging unfortunately, unless they've dramatically reworked the design then it may not last too long unless it's used just for fragging corals here and there around the house.

Weird, it wouldn't come up again for me either till I went there again myself. Anyways, its the DFS-100 ReefKeeper saw, and it's been totally redesigned, no brass coolant line valves, no aluminum table, the only metal is the guts of the motor, the blade, and a couple bearings. The club member who demo'd the saw said most of the problems he'd heard of (he works at a local distributor that carries Inland saws) were the bearings giving up, and the brass coolant valves seizing from the saltwater, not to mention the table and other aluminum parts pitting badly. He talked about rinsing the saw down with freshwater after each use then oiling the bearings after that, plus something about a leather blade wiping thing that needs to be in place. Seems to be easily maintained, and from what was said is a total re-do.

Well then that's pretty cool for sure, great to hear that they finally redesigned that one to make it last! Looking forward to hearing some reviews, sounds like a keeper