For those encrusting corals

[smoothie7]

Just getting in to SPS corals. For those corals that are encrusting, do you put a rock on top of the frag plug to begin its encrusting or what process do you use? Trying to learn about how corals grow on if they grow their own skeleton or if they are encrusting.

 

[Rjukan]

I just cut the bottom off the plug so it's just a disk, then glue that to my rocks. Over time the encrusting coral will grow off the disk and onto the rocks. If you're adventurous you could then break the disk back off, leaving some of the coral on the rock which will keep spreading. Then sell it, or put the disk in a new spot you want the same coral growing.