Cutting coral off the plug

[DerekT5]

Hi all,

I am getting some new acros and stylos. They are about the size of a thumb and want to know if there are any ways to get them off the plug. Thanks!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Sometime you can pop them off by wedging something like a butter knife in between the plug and glue, works most of the time for me. If I have trouble with that, I usually resort to breaking the plug stem off and trying the shear off the edges of the disc with bone cutters or something.

 

[tdileo]

Are they encrusted? If not, just pull on the acro (especially easier if it’s nice and chunky) and it will pop off. If it is encrusted, I would saw off all the way down to the base.

 

[DerekT5]

Thanks I will give it a try

 

[Dsnakes]

And if you pop it off after partial encrusting, just throw the plug back in the rack and let it grow back

 

[nrupaw]

Best $6 you'll spend

https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-67551-4-Inch-Wood-Chisel/dp/B00KLY15OK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512600060&sr=8-3&keywords=wood+chisel+1/4+inch

great to pop frags off plugs. Slide it a little bit between the coral and the frag, and twist. Off pops the frag. With this I can even scrape zoa mats off in 1 piece, and glue onto my plugs

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Best $6 you'll spend

https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-67551-4-Inch-Wood-Chisel/dp/B00KLY15OK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512600060&sr=8-3&keywords=wood+chisel+1/4+inch

great to pop frags off plugs. With this I can even scrape zoa mats in 1 piece, off frag plugs and glue onto my plugs

Love that. I use a carpet knife.

 

[DerekT5]

Are they encrusted? If not, just pull on the acro (especially easier if it’s nice and chunky) and it will pop off. If it is encrusted, I would saw off all the way down to the base.

Some of them are encrusted and I will just leave those encrust over the plug. But most are not encrusting.

 

[nrupaw]

Some of them are encrusted and I will just leave those encrust over the plug. But most are not encrusting.

when i shop for frags i purposely try avoiding corals that are too encrusted. Just because they are easier to pop off plugs. sometimes you can use bone cutters to crave around the encrusted part.

but not worth the risk IMO. Majority of the junk (e.g. bubble algea, red turf, aptasia etc) is always on the frag plus. Not worth the trouble for a 1/4 inch of encrusting.