Soft Coral Frags - Notched Plug Method

[jimsflies]

After asking for ideas of the best way to attach sinularia frags to plugs, here:
Fragging Sinularia? (http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/soft-coral/fragging-sinularia-30953/)

@Coral Frenzy (http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/members/coral-frenzy/) spurred an idea when he posted a link to these Soft Picks:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k621/jimsflies/Soft-Picks_zps6534d8c1.jpg

I decided to cut notches into frag plugs with an Inland Reef Saw. This was the most time consuming part of this operation. Frag plugs are hard!

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k621/jimsflies/notch-cut-frag-plug_zps959a0c3e.jpg

Then I used the soft picks to attach the sinularia frags and wedge them down into the notch so they won't fall out.
http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k621/jimsflies/sinularia-frag-plug_zpsd8eff100.jpg

This batch probably took about 20 minutes to setup:

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k621/jimsflies/sinularia-frags_zps09800b6f.jpg

Here they are starting to get happy after only an hour or so:
http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k621/jimsflies/sinularia-frags-rack_zpseda579d0.jpg

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k621/jimsflies/sinularia-frag-complete_zps7828b468.jpg

The frags were precut a few days ago and allowed to tumble in a container I attached to the side of my tank. This was a recommendation from @Skyhigh (http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/members/skyhigh/) as he said the survival seems to go up if the frags have a few days to recover after the initial cutting. I used some of the mesh I use for tank tops to keep them inside the container.

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k621/jimsflies/sinularia-fresh-cut_zps3df6a97a.jpg

One word of caution, if you have a small tank like I do with no filtration, be careful to minimize cutting in the tank and run a ton of carbon afterwards. Even though I tried to minimize the in tank cutting, I ended up killing nearly all of my LPS/SPS after fragging the sinularia. You can see from that last photo that they were starting to not look very happy and in retrospect I should have done a big water change and added carbon right then. :(

I'll update this thread with more progress as the frags grow onto the plugs.

These frags will be available at the Lansing swap for free! Just find the CaptiveReefs booth and spin the Frag and Swag wheel. There will be a ton of prizes depending on your spin. :hypnodisk:

#payitforward (http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=payitforward) #fragandswag (http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=fragandswag)

[MizTanks]

So does the coral just grow over the pick?

[jimsflies]

No once they attach (a week or so), I'll just pull the pick out. But I'm sure the pick could stay there as well.

[Coral Frenzy]

Great Job!
Should be all healed and ready to go for the Expo. :)

[Dmmz]

I was wondering what happened to some of my sps/lps why did it kill them?

[Tom@HaslettMI]

The notched plugs also work very well for mounting gorgonians! The 10 frags pictured here will be available to win at the CR table during the upcoming expo.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q234/tomalwin/5A34D75C-44D0-4F0B-B2AD-8D0FEDC01174_zpsifsptfzx.jpg (http://s137.photobucket.com/user/tomalwin/media/5A34D75C-44D0-4F0B-B2AD-8D0FEDC01174_zpsifsptfzx.jpg.html)

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q234/tomalwin/B216F8B5-6489-41FB-9BE5-C0C774D33D5E_zpsvcvl3cop.jpg (http://s137.photobucket.com/user/tomalwin/media/B216F8B5-6489-41FB-9BE5-C0C774D33D5E_zpsvcvl3cop.jpg.html)

Tom

[jimsflies]

I was wondering what happened to some of my sps/lps why did it kill them?

Why did what kill them?

[FlynnFish]

Me and my husband have a similar way of fragging sinularia and toadstools. We take small bits of rock for the plugs. Take the sword style tooth picks and break them down top a good size. Stick the toothpick through the coral then superglue the toothpick to the rock. After the coral is attached to the rock just twist the toothpick and pull off.
Be careful with those floss picks, sometimes they have mint flavoring in them. Don't know what effects it can have on a tank.

[jimsflies]

Good point Shannon... I wondered why my tank smells minty fresh!

[Sir Patrick]

I was wondering what happened to some of my sps/lps why did it kill them?

Allelopathy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allelopathy)

When cut, some corals go into overdrive....like the sinularia did, to ensure its propagation when cut/broken/hurt in Jims small tank.

Most leathers cause allelopathy naturally, which can be avoided by carbon/water changes, but some really turn up the heat when stressed, or cut/broken.

[Sir Patrick]

Why did what kill them?

Fragging that leather.