Glue vrs Flower Pick

[Mock]

For the longest time now I have received strange looks and been asked over and over about the use of flower picks as frag holders. I got the idea from here are Reef Central from the "Coral Maternity in Portugal" thread. Just so happens my dear grandmother is well into the florest thing so these to me are very easy to find and cheap.

Many people in my club and my area are skeptical when I tell them I have them on flower picks and then tell them how more and more about them. Some have argued that there is something about ceramic that makes the corals spread faster or that they simply cant hold on to the rubberish cap and that the coral will not firmly grip to feel stable enough to grow upward.

I honestly have never done a side by side comparison between the two. I would like to know a little more about this myself. So here it is... I plan to leave these two side by side to evaluate the differences of which one covers first, which one looks better, which one last, which one over all turns out in the end worthy of planting in a persons tank. I will keep this thread updated as I go along and plan on taking pictures every 15 days or so to see what if any changes have occurred.

Lets see if these things are worth my continual use, or if even I will be persuaded to go back to glue.

Glued

Flower Pick

Side by Side

 

[REEF SMAC]

I've seen plenty of frags grown on flower picks. They seem to grow just fine on them, at least on the ones I've seen. I like the fact that you can fill the flower picks with sand and it makes them heavier and more stable in a frag rack. Especially when compared to all the crapy plugs out there.
I just figured that the flower picks were just more expensive and not as easy to come by as the ceramic plugs.

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[Mock]

I dont know about anyone else but I can get 100 flower picks for 10 bucks... I dont know why people still use glue and ceramic. But I started this just to see if there was any difference at all with using a live base versus the rubberized cap of a flower tube.

 

[Dapg8gt]

What is a flower pick? So no glue is needed kinda just friction fit inside? Gonna look into it. Sounds a lot cheaper too.

 

[spscrackhead]

i would flip the one that you glued so it was as vertical as possible to match the flower plug.

 

[Mock]

What is a flower pick? So no glue is needed kinda just friction fit inside? Gonna look into it. Sounds a lot cheaper too.

No glue is needed, you can fill the tube with sand or crushed coral. They have a rubber cap which has a small hole in it, it can be sized depending on the frag but most will just pop right in and hold snugly.

 

[Mock]

i would flip the one that you glued so it was as vertical as possible to match the flower plug.

:spin1: :lol2:

But I see your point.. Actually thought about it but had already done it. I may take it to the rock and see if I cant flatten it off without un-gluing the frag.

 

[Dapg8gt]

Thanks .

 

[Mock]

Just for added information the Alk is at 9 the Calcium is at 420 and the Mag is around 1400, 250 Phoenix 14k on Magnetic Reeflex ballast.

 

[REEF SMAC]

I dont know about anyone else but I can get 100 flower picks for 10 bucks... I dont know why people still use glue and ceramic.

I think mostly because the ceramic plugs and glue are a lot more vesatile for different types of corals.

Flower picks are perfect for acros with small enough diameters to actually fit through the rubber and hole at the top.

Flower picks are just not to friendly for other corals such as plating, encrusting, fat branches, or even tabling SPS for example.

Try to get an efflo frag into a flower pick.

 

[oscar.millan]

What do you do with a flower pick once the coral is encrusted?

Personally, I prefer the glue to rock. Once encrusted it looks natural and healthy.

 

[Mock]

What do you do with a flower pick once the coral is encrusted?

Personally, I prefer the glue to rock. Once encrusted it looks natural and healthy.

Pop the cap and then stick glue it in the display just as you would a ceramic plug.

You never see the Pick once the cap is covered and the tube comes right off.

I have even glued everything from a monti cap to a chalice frags onto the end (larger than the cap) and had them encrust over in no time.