Epoxy or Glue for frags

justinky

New member
Hi, I am new to SPS so I am wondering what most people use for their acros. Also pieces that are encrusted to frag plugs, should I just frag off as much as possible from the plug?
 
Some times you can get a razor bade under the encrusting frags like a chisel and pop the whole thing off. If there is some left on the plug, put it on your frag rack and let it grow another one. I use glue for small/medium frags and epoxy for large/mini colonies.
 
I use a pair of cutters and cut the leg off the plug. Then apply superglue gel to the bottom of the plug, then add epoxy, them more super glue gel on top. Sounds OCD now that I think about it lol. Works great though!
 
Depends on the coral and where I'm attaching it.

I usually try to get the frag off of the plug with an old fixed blade scalpel blade.

If that doesn't work, I'll take a large pair of bone cutters and put the plug in their jaws oriented so that the cut will vertically bisect the plug. I gently hold the base of the coral with my left had to keep it from flying away, and squeeze the cutters as hard as I can with my right. Generally the plug will shatter into 4+ pieces and crumble away from the coral, leaving it completely unharmed.

For those ridiculously annoying ORA plastic frag plugs, I bust out the dremel and a cutting wheel. I hold the base of the coral, and cut into the plug as close to the base of the coral as I can safely get. I can usually free the coral from the plug completely this way.

For smallish corals that I trust to encrust quickly going into pretty secure spots, I'll just use a glob of super glue gel. If I think it'll take longer to encrust (bird's nest), or its going into a precarious spot (many plating or scrolling montis), I'll make an appropriately sized wad of frag epoxy up, use some superglue to attach the frag to the epoxy, and put some more superglue between the epoxy and the frag. This usually results in an extremely strong hold.
 
I hate the ora plugs.....i currently have inadvertently "fragged" about 30% of all ora plug pieces i have sawing the darn plug off.

gel superglue for most, and epoxy for the heavier more awkward pieces. i recently hung a 6in rock with 4 in coral above a cave opening using superglue to initially hold it, then epoxy over adn around the ends to really set it in there.
 
I hate frag plugs and refuse to have them in my tank. I know a lot of people with beautiful tanks have them in there, but I just prefer to attach my SPS directly to my rocks. I use a knife to pop the SPS off the plug if it is not totally encrusted. If it is I will usually go to work on the plug with a small pair of wire clippers. In the worst case scenario I will just take the clippers to the base of the coral, cross my fingers, and snip.

To attach the coral to my rocks I use Lock-tite superglue gel and JB Waterweld epoxy. I make a small ball of epoxy, dab the base of the coral dry, liberally apply superglue gel to the coral base, put a ball of epoxy (size determined by size of frag and surface it is going on...deep hole more, flat surface less) on the glue/base of coral, then add super glue to the bottom of the epoxy and stick it. I will hold it there for about 15 seconds, then it is good to go. At first the epoxy is a little white and will stand out a bit, but then it darkens a little, and eventually the coral will encrust over it.

Wow, sorry for the long post.

I'm with you Barry, I never realized how OCD I was about this...lol
 
aragonite plugs are nice as cutting the stem off the bottom is very easy if you cant pry the coral off safely (for the coral, i have cut myself a few times) or it is fully encrusted, but as said above i believe, they crumble with a couple quick clenches of the pliers...and they make nice rubble piles when crumbled. i have a whole end of my tank that is just plugs and plug crumble, cured if i need em, crawling with pods if i dont.
 
+1 super glue gel sometimes if you have a large coral
Go glue epoxy glue
Just epoxy I can't stand
 
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