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How to frag corals


BibleSue

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Noob here. I just bought 3 zoo frags that I want to grow on specific rocks. What is the best way to accomplish...or what is typical to get a nice uniform colony?

 

Thanks!

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Noob here. I just bought 3 zoo frags that I want to grow on specific rocks. What is the best way to accomplish...or what is typical to get a nice uniform colony?

 

Thanks!

 

That is a good question. If you ask it as a separate topic, you will get much better input.

 

You need to test it where you want it if you can to be sure it is happy there. ie: lighting, flow etc. Once you are sure, you can use Super Glue Gel (make sure it is gel) & glue it to the rock. I make sure not to get glue on the ployps. If there is texture or better yet, small holes in the area where you glue them, they stick better.

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Nice writeup Biblesue - quite the cottage industry there!

 

Let me know when a frag of watermelons is ready - those are rad. :)

Thanks! I have some I am taking to the Swap in Memphis. Are you going to that? If not, PM me next week & I'll let you know what I have left.

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Excellent thread B-Sue!

 

FWIW two thoughts...

 

First is that it is *VERY* important to wear a mask (or even a respirator) when working with a Dremmel (or other cutting tool) and live rock/coral in a non-ventilated environment.

 

Why you ask? Because the dust that comes off the rock/coral when you cut it is a very fine powder and your lungs really don't like it.

 

I managed to land myself in the hospital two weeks ago for a double steroid nebulizer treatment thanks to me pulling off my mask to tell my son to leave the garage when I was fragging something and inhaling a lungful of coral and live rock dust. I don't have asthma or any other lung problems. The stuff is a very fine powder and will cause your bronchial tubes to inflame which means you can't breathe.

 

Second is for those of you who have a Costco instead of a Wal-Mart you can get the non-powder latex gloves from Kirkland pretty cheap there. And BibleSue is right, that <Dirty Word> glue is <More Dirty Words> hard to get off! I have found that I have to take a sponge and use the rough side with running water and a good couple of minutes of scrubbing to get it off.

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Mask & goggles are a MUST! Shower cap, too, if you don't want to wash your hair right away. Thanks for sharing your story! I'm sorry it happened but maybe people will take it more seriously.

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Mask & goggles are a MUST! Shower cap, too, if you don't want to wash your hair right away. Thanks for sharing your story! I'm sorry it happened but maybe people will take it more seriously.

 

Cheers. Fortunately what little hair I have left I keep in a 'zero to three' aka #2 cut so I can just hose myself off. ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I found some polyps floating around in one of my tanks about ready to clash with my goni so I rescued it. Thought I'd show how I attach to rubble. I have never been successful putting the glue right on the flesh. This is what I came up with after many other hard-to-do methods.

 

Coral, super glue gel, unwaxed dental floss, rubble of choice.

 

DSCF6518.jpg

 

I found the spot on the coral to place against the rock. I picked a spot on the rubble & tried it there. Below where the coral would sit, I put a spot of glue. I cut a length of floss & put 1 end in the gel holding a tail under the frag to keep the floss from moving. I placed the longer part carefully over the coral, between the polyps, under the frag & thru the glue spot, over the polyps in a differet spot twice more to anchor. I ended with a spot of glue over the other end of the floss.

 

DSCF6520.jpg

 

After is cured for a minute or so, I put it in the tank.

 

DSCF6521.jpg

 

You can glue the rubble on your rock work or place it on the bottom. Once it has attached & started to spread, you can easily remove & toss the floss. HTH

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Great thread! Thanks for sharing!

 

I am just waiting on getting a new house so I can setup my frag tank as soon as I move in :)

(IF we ever find a house.. it's taking the wife forever to find the "right one". sheesh)

 

Meanwhile all my zoos and GSP's are starting to take over everything they are touching. Should make it easy to frag though, just pickup original frag and cut mat leaving new zoos and GSP on whatever they are growing on.

 

I have a HUGE piece growing up my side glass now. If anybody has GSP, position it so it's touching the glass, Then all you have to do is cut the tiny bit of connecting mat and then razor the entire piece off the glass and glue it to something else. No cutting of rocks needed :)

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Meanwhile all my zoos and GSP's are starting to take over everything they are touching. Should make it easy to frag though, just pickup original frag and cut mat leaving new zoos and GSP on whatever they are growing on.

 

I have a HUGE piece growing up my side glass now. If anybody has GSP, position it so it's touching the glass, Then all you have to do is cut the tiny bit of connecting mat and then razor the entire piece off the glass and glue it to something else. No cutting of rocks needed :)

Thanks for the tip. It will also grow across your sand bed & you can cut & glue the sand it is attached to where you want it. In my prop tank, I set it on a flat disk & let it grow down over it. Then I just cut up the disk with bone cutters.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
great thread i love it and where fo you sell your corals? to your LFS or on line?

 

Just PM her.

She's getting ready to take a bunch of frags to a Frag Swap this Saturday.

She has a bunch of nice softies.

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What I'm really curious about is how to frag a Catalaphyllia jardinei.. everything google is turning up seems to be extremely vague to the point of being utterly useless to me...

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  • 2 weeks later...
What I'm really curious about is how to frag a Catalaphyllia jardinei.. everything google is turning up seems to be extremely vague to the point of being utterly useless to me...

 

I have never tried that. You might post a question in the proper forum.

 

Biblesue i found a zoa polyp floating in my tank can i put it under a piece of mesh and rubber band it to the rock does this work?

 

You could try it. I would put it in a small pile of rubble to see if it would attach or wait till it multiplies so there is something to tie down. I had a clove polyp fall into a branchy rock where I couldn't get it & it attached & grew there. HTH

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  • 1 year later...

Weetie & I were back in the kitchen this weekend cuttin' up. Here are some pics.

 

Before

IMG_3182.jpg

 

After

IMG_3183.jpg

 

IMG_3187.jpg

 

IMG_3188.jpg

 

IMG_3191.jpg

 

Larger chalice Before

IMG_3184.jpg

 

After

IMG_3190.jpg

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