hard coral frags -help me before I kill them!

[Europhyllia]

I got some neat hard coral frags - unmounted, just cuts.
So what do I do with them? Do I glue them to something at the cut line, not at the cut line, does it matter?
For example a slice of pagoda cup. I assume I'd glue it at the cut. Or maybe I should just lay it onto something and wait for it to do something?

Please help before I kill them.

[JimD]

Or maybe I should just lay it onto something and wait for it to do something?

Thats what Id do, you can always move it if its unhappy..

[txav8r]

x2
Thats what I did with mine and it's happy as can be.

[Europhyllia]

Perfect! Thanks guys. :)

[Mr Cob]

I prefer to glue them. I have seen your tank and if I had your tank I would glue them because you have an active tank and you have lots of hair algae. Hair algae could bother your frags. I would mount to a piece of rock that is clean and free of hair algae in order to give the fresh frags an opportunity to establish themselves.

Also, a frag that is moved often by crabs or passing fish or snails will not be happy.

Mount the frag with some super glue...pagoda cups take a LONG time to encrust and mount on their own, I have fragged them many times. They also slime like crazy making mounting hard as well.

Dry a piece of clean rock and apply super glue gel to it. Immediately remove the pagoda cup and dry the base quickly with a towel or paper towel and then sit the pagoda cup on the rock with gel on it. -Your goal is to not disturb the pagoda too much so that it does not slime up as much. Let it sit out of water for about 10 minutes, then dip it in some water pulled from the tank and let sit for another 10 minutes before adding back to the tank. Discard water from first dip.

[Mr Cob]

Also, you'll want to mount the pagoda cup on the underside, not on the cut line. The cut will heal.

SPS can be mounted anywhere but it's best to mount at the cut line.

[glennr1978]

Glue 'em!

[JimD]

Dont glue 'em! ...Not with all that hair algae anyway.

[glennr1978]

How much hair algae are we talking about here? If there is so much that the frags can't even be glued then I doubt that said frags will survive anyway.

[Mr Cob]

Karin...read everyone's advice and do what you think is best for your system and scenario. There are many ways to reach the same end point. It's up to you to decide what works best for you. There are many determining factors and in the end it's really not going to make a big difference.

We all always disagree on many levels.

The hair algae will always be a problem in some way or another no matter how you do it until it's under control. Your system is very healthy looking though but the hair algae will limit you in terms of bulking up your coral quantities.

[JimD]

Theres really is no wrong way to do it. Gluing offers security in placement, not gluing offers the ability to move it if it appears unhappy, bust it in half and try it both ways! lol

[Mr Cob]

haha!! Now that would be protecting your investment.

[txav8r]

HAhahaha! I like that answer!

[Europhyllia]

Oh Rob, check this out and be dazzled!!! Here's a picture of the condition of the rocks and the frags taken today:
http://www.dominopads.com/frags.jpg

I think my tank has cleaned up very nicely since you picked up Moby. :D ( alot of it was actually bryopsis, not hair algae so that was easy to get rid of)

There are still little isolated tufts of hair algae but I think overall I am pretty much 90% algae free...plenty of space to glue stuff if glueing is the way to go.
The remaining algae has been rapidly declining and with the algae under control I felt ready to add some new stuff :).

[txav8r]

That looks great!
Rob, you mislead us!! Shame shame...

Karin, usually byropsis is the hard one to get rid of not hair algae.

[Mr Cob]

Nice, now you need a small tang and a lawnmower blenny to help keep it under control... and lots of macro in your refugium.

It looks nice.

Moby is doing awesome... She quickly became the ruler of the tank and helps keep the peace. She even knocked some sense into Ray's crazy clown and she has been broken too. : )

[Europhyllia]

That looks great!
Rob, you mislead us!! Shame shame...

Karin, usually byropsis is the hard one to get rid of not hair algae.

Thank You!

I found an article on RC about raising magnesium levels from the regular 1350 to 1650 and that wiped out my bryopsis in 3 days!
(only side effect was that my massive pod population twindled with the bryopsis gone)
Then I did have hair algae (replacing the bryopsis lol) and I have a book by Julian Sprung that recommends raising alkalinity and adding herbivores. Alkalinity over 8 dkh helps precipitate phosphate ( I feed all day ;) ). And really the corals needed higher alk than what I had anyway.
I also added a few mexican red legs. The hermits and the higher alkalinity took care of most of the hair algae.
I am pretty amazed myself how quickly everything came together :)

[Europhyllia]

Oh good Rob. I am glad to hear she's a good match for your tank. My clowns left the corner by the overflow box the moment I got her out of the tank and returned to their home in the hairy mushroom so they're happy she's with you! LOL

No more fish additions for me. Only slow moving critters from now on. I learned that from chasing a tang through 160 pounds of very intricate rock scaping for 6 hours...

http://www.dominopads.com/926_6.jpg