New coral from Live Aquaria, how do I cut the drag base

[Mike P]

I received my first online order of coral from live aquaria. It is the soft coral pack they sale. What I didn’t know was that they would come on such large square bases. Does anyone know the best way to cut these?

[seabass]

I have a dedicated pair of cable cutters that I use to break off most of the excess plug.

 

Some people might cut the coral off of the plug, but you run the risk of injuring the coral.  It would be better if you could cut under the coral (through the rock), but that's not always that easy.

[Mike P]

Thank you sea bass, I will try to cut some of the excess off

[banasophia]

I use a pocket knife serrated blade to pry them off or cut the glue holding the coral to the base... most of the time I find they pop right off. 

 

Only issue I’ve had is that you need to be sure you are left with some kind off base material (like superglue that was used to attach it) so you have a firm surface to glue to your rock. 

[seabass]

3 hours ago, banasophia said:

I use a pocket knife serrated blade to pry them off or cut the glue holding the coral to the base.

I do something similar for stony coral.  Often soft coral hasn't been glued to plug.  Just curious, what type of soft coral have you pried off of its base?