What to do with frags?

[DaveS]

Here's a pretty silly question but everyone here is nice so....

 

What do you guys ultimately do with your frags?

 

I got a 250 gal tank with fish and lots of rock. It's my one and only tank. Over the last few months, with the help of lots of WAMAS members, I've collected a bunch of really nice frags. I even learned to glue them onto plugs and discs and they seem to be taking hold nicely growing on the sand floor of my tank where I put them. So the silly questions is- what next?

 

I can see where some people might just let them keep growing them in the sand and others have those cool egg crate racks mounted on the back wall (anyone have an extra to sell or help me make one?) but as nice as they are, both of these seem to be temporary measures to me. Even a frag tank (wish I had the space for one) is a really neat thing but still seems like an interim location (maybe I'm wrong). I sure some people collect/raise a large variety of corals purely to grow and frag them but is that a large percentage of the people out there? My guess is those are the people with frag tanks but how many have JUST a frag tank.

 

I guess I'm asking the obvious in that sooner or later do people permanently mount/glue the frag to a rock? If so, how is that done, break the coral off the plug/disc? Try to hide the plug/disc? What kind of considerations do people have as far as where to permanently affix the coral? Seems like one drawback to this is that if you and to re-aquascape your tank, your options become limited. Am I wrong?

 

Can some of you experienced members out there provide some guidance? As you can tell, I'm kinda at a loss for what to do next. I got lots of neat stuff and now the next meeting is coming in only 2 weeks. There's so many cool frags available and I only have so much sand space left! What should I do?!

 

Thanks.

[shawns]

to answer a few of your questions:

 

some people have frag tanks to grow out frags. their main tank isnt crowded w/ the frags, yet they have the ability to trade and sell off the frags. it is a seprate tank that is typically plumbed into the system.

 

sometimes you can keep it on theplug, sometimes you tank it off the disc/plug. whatever your needs are. thats the beauty of it, your tank can be different then another, but similar in so many ways too! like you said if you glue it to something, you'r kinda...STUCK!! :wink:

 

as far as what you should do next, my advice would be to watch your frags mature into healthy colonies! i totally understand the space restraints and thats why what im doing myself is watching. occasionally ill see something that i really like and ill want a piece, but for the most part it's just watching my tank, "grow up."

 

hope this helps

[dhoch]

Typically I start them on the sand but after they are growing good I atach the disk/plug to a rock where I want the coral to be and then I watch it grow.... I frag as it gets large and starts to compete with other corals.

 

Here is a great example:

 

Blue tip Acro I got from Chris (143gadgets):

 

Here it is right after I got it glued to the frag disc and on the sand: (june-2006)

 

Here is the same frag 3 months later now it's encrusting on the disc and I've mounted the disc to a desirable place in my rockwork: (september 2006)

 

 

Here is the coral in april 2004 (grown signifigantly, and nows it's even bigger... it's starting to encroach on the blue tort to teh left and the purple acro to teh right... both slower growers so it's fragging time )

 

 

Dave

[Grav]

That is a stunning coral... and it can time travel too??? It jumped back to 2004???

 

I'm calling Doc and Marty, we don't need the delorian any more, just coral.

[dhoch]

Opppss yes that should be 2007.... typo...

 

Dave

[Almon]

Another option to permanently glueing the frag or plug to the reef, is to glue the frag or plug to a small-medium size rock. This will allow you to move the coral around to different parts of the reef that will support the small-medium rock while still providing a stable base for the coral. You can also easily remove the coral for fragging, where, if its glued to the reef, you usually cannot.

 

 

 

However, I prefer permanently attaching corals or plugs to the reef. I believe it's more stable and improves growth. It's definitely harder to frag that way, but I like the "Grown in" look of the aquarium when corals have been growing for years in relatively the same place.

[kngfisher]

I am in the same boat as well as I am sure many of us are. My plan, with the help of a friend is to re-aquascape and at that time, afix some of the frags that are growing well to my rockwork. The smaller frags will stay on my frag racks but the larger ones will be glued to the rock work. If you are worried about the plug, a dremmel can be used to cut away the plug and/or shape the plug to fit into its intended location in the rock. for the larger pieces, try taking a small frag of it before you mount the larger piece just incase something happens to the one you have.....also can be used for trading with the friend that helped and continues to help you.

 

Here's a pretty silly question but everyone here is nice so....

 

What do you guys ultimately do with your frags?

 

I got a 250 gal tank with fish and lots of rock. It's my one and only tank. Over the last few months, with the help of lots of WAMAS members, I've collected a bunch of really nice frags. I even learned to glue them onto plugs and discs and they seem to be taking hold nicely growing on the sand floor of my tank where I put them.

[Almon]

Here's a very interesting video about "Pegging Corals". He drills holes in his large rocks and then mounts his corals to pegs which he then inserts into any number of holes that aready exist.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb_EISFyQ3A

 

 

 

If you are going to re-aquascape, then that would be a great opportunity to drill a bunch of holes for pegs or for the plugs that go in eggcrate.

[DaveS]

Here's a very interesting video about "Pegging Corals". He drills holes in his large rocks and then mounts his corals to pegs which he then inserts into any number of holes that aready exist.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb_EISFyQ3A

 

 

 

If you are going to re-aquascape, then that would be a great opportunity to drill a bunch of holes for pegs or for the plugs that go in eggcrate.

 

Wow, that's really cool. Not only does it solves the permanent gluing vs. sitting on sand bed issue but it allows for more dense coverage on the rocks and nice hanging type placements. Trying to figure out how to put the frags on the rocks so they stay balanced was what lead me to think about permanently mounting the corals in the first place.

 

Now I just gotta look into when I'm going to re-aquascape. Anyone want to come help and give advice?

Edited June 14, 2007 by DaveS