Duncan Coral - Placement

[RaymondL]

Got a first for me, which is a Duncan - of course it came attached to a frag disc/plug - I'm wondering if I can just insert the frag disc/plug directly into the substrate rather than attaching to a rock? I find the look nice if I place it on the substrate and bury the frag disc enough with substrate to cover it.

Thoughts?

 

[blaxsun]

I've found duncans are happier when not placed in the sand.

 

[RaymondL]

I've found duncans are happier when not placed in the sand.

Ok, so that's vote for get it out of the substrate - check. I placed it on a rock to see how it'll look, but that frag disc takes away from the beauty of it. I guess in time the disc will be covered anyways....

 

[bvanfish]

Can you pop it off the frag and glue it to the rock? I’m a noob but I just recently got the courage to start taking them off the plugs and it’s really not as hard as you think. I use a super small wood chisel and find the glue and slowly pry so it just takes the glue off the plug.
It’s worked well for me so far!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Can you pop it off the frag and glue it to the rock? I’m a noob but I just recently got the courage to start taking them off the plugs and it’s really not as hard as you think. I use a super small wood chisel and find the glue and slowly pry so it just takes the glue off the plug.
It’s worked well for me so far!

I guess it's kind of funny, but I do almost the exact opposite. I drill holes in my rocks so frag plugs just fit right in. In most cases it doesn't take too long and the plugs hardly show, and neither do empty holes. But this also lets me move corals around more easily if I don't like the placement, or the coral is unhappy with the placement.

 

[bvanfish]

That would be sweet. How do you drill the rock? I’ve tried and no luck. Also do you remove large rock work out and drill?

 

[Ron Reefman]

That would be sweet. How do you drill the rock? I’ve tried and no luck. Also do you remove large rock work out and drill?

Any time I buy new rock I drill it before it ever gets wet. Older rocks that weren't drilled can be pulled out and drilled, sometimes even with smaller corals (like zoas) attached. I always rinse the rock off over a sink with running water (even ones with corals). I've found almost any coral will tolerate a rinse or even a short soak in fresh water.

I use a basic battery powered hammer drill. I use some concrete bits and some regular bits. Some rock is quite soft and easy to drill without using the hammer feature and not using concrete bits. But some rock is very hard and you need both. I always try to start with smaller holes and less pressure on the drill. Then work my way up to the size bit I need for the size of the biggest frag plugs that corals I buy come on. And it's not a perfect solution as I have occasionally broken a rock while trying to drill a hole.

I'm just in the process of setting up a 40g cube aio tank. I made the tank and Tenacor made the custom aio insert so I could use 4" filter socks and a bigger return pump. Oh, and so my hands fit easily into the space behind the wall! Just yesterday I placed over 30 frags (all but 23 on frag plugs) and a RFA in the tank. BTW, the corals were all acclimated to my water as I also have a 40g breeder aio that has been running for a few months. It very likely will now become a small predator, pest, hated critters tank!

Sorry for the blue photos, I forgot to turn off the blue leds.

 

[Steve2020]

My Duncan is on the sand and is very happy. Had 3 heads in June and now has 16 large heads with 3 more babies that popped up last week. I kept her on the plug and cut off the stem and glued the plug to a piece of shelf rock rubble I had for stability. A sturdy base is key when keeping on the sand when you have sand sifting inhabitants in the tank. My Diamond Goby has moved some of the sand around the base. He is smart and knows where the pods like to hang out during the day.
Photos where taken this morning 1.5hrs after lights came on and where still ramping up. When fully extended the colony is another 1-2" in diameter.

 

[RaymondL]

My Duncan is on the sand and is very happy. Had 3 heads in June and now has 16 large heads with 3 more babies that popped up last week. I kept her on the plug and cut off the stem and glued the plug to a piece of shelf rock rubble I had for stability. A sturdy base is key when keeping on the sand when you have sand sifting inhabitants in the tank. My Diamond Goby has moved some of the sand around the base. He is smart and knows where the pods like to hang out during the day.
Photos where taken this morning 1.5hrs after lights came on and where still ramping up. When fully extended the colony is another 1-2" in diameter.

Gorgeous!!!!! Hope one day mine look like your's. That's a great idea...if I decide to place on substrate, I'll glue a flat macro rock to the frag disc and bury it. So when the Duncan grows and spreads out what happens to them exactly given that the surface area of the frag disc is so small - do they just attach themselves to the substrate?

 

[MelancholyBlenny]

Ive always kept them in the sand, they seem to do just fine if they have the right amount of light and flow. Here is a colony started from 2 heads in my dads tank. The piece on the bottom was broken off because it was just getting too big.

 

[KQuillan]

Wow, I never thought about placing mine in the sand, but it does look really good.

 

[Steve2020]

Gorgeous!!!!! Hope one day mine look like your's. That's a great idea...if I decide to place on substrate, I'll glue a flat macro rock to the frag disc and bury it. So when the Duncan grows and spreads out what happens to them exactly given that the surface area of the frag disc is so small - do they just attach themselves to the substrate?

The way I understand it is as the Duncan head stalk grows and extends and the babies emerge on the stalk under the adult head and as the babies grow to adults and their stalks extend new babies will grow on their stalks and so on. I believe it is called branching and they don't physically attach to anything but themselves. They do not encrust. When they get large enough stalks will break off creating a new colony.
I am no expert but from what I have read this is how I understand it.

 

[ReeferAl]

How do you drill the rock? I’ve tried and no luck. Also do you remove large rock work out and drill?

How I "drill" holes in rock that can't be removed from the tank:
I take a screw driver and stick it into a small hole. By twisting it I can enlarge the hole enough to insert a plug into it.

 

[rmorris_14]

I have also had a Duncan be perfectly content on the sand. Granted it was mounted to rock rubble instead of a frag plug.

 

[exnisstech]

I'm bare bottom but my duncans are on the bottom glued to a piece of rock I cut on a table saw so the bottom is flat

 

[steveschuerger]

Got mine glued to a small piece of CaribSea life rock each ,

resting on the sand.