Frag plugs; how do you hide them? Do you leave them in your display?

[Tanster2]

So I'm curious how others go about placing new coral into their displays. Do you remove coral from plugs, or do you place the coral and plug into your display and simply wait for coral to grow over the plug?
I personally like to glue my coral onto small chunks of live rock and then glue that rock onto rocks in my display.

Just curious how others conduct this process.

 

[dball711]

I cut the plug off and super glue to my display.

 

[ActiveAngel]

I do the same as you @Tanster2

I cut from the plug, glue to a small/medium rock, and then either glue or simply place them on the existing display rockwork.

The benefit of this is that, if you have to relocate the colony, you can do so while still keeping some of the coral base, and without sawing through a potentially massive display rock.

 

[Tanster2]

The only caveat to doing it that way is that it's hard with zoanthids and palys I feel. I'm so scared of damaging them that I usually leave them on plugs and let them overgrow their plugs, which usually happens over time

 

[Shawn]

The only caveat to doing it that way is that it's hard with zoanthids and palys I feel. I'm so scared of damaging them that I usually leave them on plugs and let them overgrow their plugs, which usually happens over time

Pfft. I've ripped zoas off and glued them down and they worked. LOL. Maybe I've just had stupid dumb luck with them...

 

[wake125122]

I've done both. Typically I will cut the frag plug and place it in the rock work and glue it down. Typically (at least for me) I am unable to find the plug afterwords after a bit of growth. But then again I am also a tab lazy lol

 

[Tanster2]

I take some bone cutters to the plug part so it's just a round piece and glue that down! Those plugs are really easy to break

 

[hzheng33]

Before/during rock selection/aquascaping I drill as many 1/2” holes into the rocks as the rocks allow. That way I know I will have enough to space for mounting the frags securely. For the shell rocks, I went ahead and included 1” clearance so that the entire plug can sit flush on the rock.

 

[Tanster2]

Before/during rock selection/aquascaping I drill as many 1/2” holes into the rocks as the rocks allow. That way I know I will have enough to space for mounting the frags securely. For the shell rocks, I went ahead and included 1” clearance so that the entire plug can sit flush on the rock.

This, I like this. I'm setting up another nano soon and I think I'm going to do it this way. That's gotta look really clean.

 

[ActiveAngel]

As for zoas and Palys, I used a scalpel to slide under them and peel them off. And I have a mini scalpel for hard to get crevices.

 

[hzheng33]

This, I like this. I'm setting up another nano soon and I think I'm going to do it this way. That's gotta look really clean.

it's a lot of work and requires the right drill bit. also you risk breaking some rocks that you may be fond over. but all in all, this is so much less hassle later on when securing frag plugs when the water is in.

 

[Tanster2]

As for zoas and Palys, I used a scalpel to slide under them and peel them off. And I have a mini scalpel for hard to get crevices.

I'm gonna grab one on Amazon. I usually just use a razor but the more precise, the better.

 

[Tanster2]

it's a lot of work and requires the right drill bit. also you risk breaking some rocks that you may be fond over. but all in all, this is so much less hassle later on when securing frag plugs when the water is in.

I agree. I have several bits at home. Which size do you use?

 

[hzheng33]

I agree. I have several bits at home. Which size do you use?

to accomodate for stems of the plugs only: 1/2" masonry bit
to have the plugs sit flush with the rock: 1" wood spade bit and then the 1/2" masonry bit. you will find yourself unable to center the stem hole if you do reverse order. also just be warn that when you use the wood spade bit, your drill will likely jump around until it grabs hold.

 

[Tanster2]

Sounds good, thanks for the advice. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

 

[jcook54]

Ideally I superglue directly to the rock or glue the frag to a medium sized rock that fits in the spot I'm trying to fill. "Ideally" is the key word here and if you look at my display you'll notice that a few frags are still on the plugs. I place them to make sure they'll be happy there and what's supposed to be temporary ends up being less-than-temporary. Laziness on my part.

 

[Mom2Many]

Much like others, I do not like frag plugs in my display tank. They dont look natural and they often have hitch hikers on them. I always cut off frags to glue to my main rock work or to a rock to then attach to my main rock work. If it is something soft I can not cut off I trim the plug until it is a small rocky chunk to glue down. I use super glue gel so I can break them off easily and move around as needed but stay put enough that urchins and turbos dont run away with them.

 

[Tanster2]

Thanks for chiming in, I've been hiding my plugs the best I can. The only ones I keep coral on are my zoanthids, which are somewhat difficult to remove from plugs without damaging them sometimes. I snip the stem of the plug and they usually just grow over the rest of the plug

 

[tag]

I hate the unnatural look of frag plugs, so I always cut the coral off the plug before I superglue them into place.

 

[rbs]

They make purple plugs also