Micro Fraggin (Farster Growing?)

[Vleis]

Yo Guys, @Bulk Reef Supply @randyBRS

Suggestion for a BRS INVESTIGATES?

I came across a thread where they talk about fragging a frag into smaller frags & sticking it onto the same plug around it......

Like so

FASTFORWARD 2months

Since the base usually grows faster the the "frag" to settle & anchor, so all those small pieces will grow towards each other quicker & fuse. With this the coral has already a proper foundation wil small pimples frags ready to grow upwards & create you a beautiful mother colony quicker. Well this is the thought.

I would try this but I already sit with only micro frags in my PICO. bwahahahahha

Link Info: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/faster-growing-frags-suspended-frags-micro-frags.22813/
(admin, please remove link if it is not allowed)

Any other reefers ever tried this?

Thanks

 

[Rickyrooz]

Following along

 

[Phildago]

Nice idea

 

[motortrendz]

Interesting. I remember a while ago there was alot of questions if you placed a frag on its side if it would grow faster than if you placed it vertical or traditionally. I believe they grew at roughly the same rate.
Now this is different bc essentially your making multiple frags. So curious to see how it would turn out long run. I've also had grown frags from a single polyp. (Not done purposely) I've accidentally broken a tip off a coral that was basically a micro frag with one polyp. I gave it a fighting chance and mounted it on a plug... it took forever but it eventually based out and grew again. But took 5x longer than a traditional frag.

 

[Vleis]

Interesting. I remember a while ago there was alot of questions if you placed a frag on its side if it would grow faster than if you placed it vertical or traditionally. I believe they grew at roughly the same rate.
Now this is different bc essentially your making multiple frags. So curious to see how it would turn out long run. I've also had grown frags from a single polyp. (Not done purposely) I've accidentally broken a tip off a coral that was basically a micro frag with one polyp. I gave it a fighting chance and mounted it on a plug... it took forever but it eventually based out and grew again. But took 5x longer than a traditional frag.

see here is already some info, u saying it took longer to start growing.... Mmmmmm

 

[motortrendz]

see here is already some info, u saying it took longer to start growing.... Mmmmmm

But that was one single polyp going a base mounted traditionally. This is multiple which technically individually would all grow slowly but as a whole may cover more of the area quicker then create more sprouts and branches in the same time it would to create one single traditional frag.

 

[Vleis]

But that was one single polyp going a base mounted traditionally. This is multiple which technically individually would all grow slowly but as a whole may cover more of the area quicker then create more sprouts and branches in the same time it would to create one single traditional frag.

LOL true this. MY BAD. Hahahahah

 

[YumaMan]

I tried a similar technique by accident when I broke a piece of leptoseris into 5 pieces and thought to put Humpty Dumpty together again on a common plug. I got great results! Fast growth, and when the pieces grew together I got branching on this lepto.

 

[Zeal]

Ive done this with my fascination favia. I cut them into small pieces glue them onto the same disk. Once they heal and all meet up they explode in growth

 

[Vleis]

Im tempted to try this myself now as well.....

 

[Baz]

Bump

 

[Softhammer]

Much has been done in the past with microfragging. I dont think much came of it. In my experience of fragging the last 15 years, bigger is always better. More surface to collect light and more polyps to collect food=better growth.

 

[Meldrath]

There was a paper I read regarding how as a percentage of growth, smaller frags grow faster than larger colonies, might have been on reef breeders or MACNA research... I'll see if I can find it.

Seems counter intuitive to me, but nature is weird like that.

 

[Vleis]

Much has been done in the past with microfragging. I dont think much came of it. In my experience of fragging the last 15 years, bigger is always better. More surface to collect light and more polyps to collect food=better growth.

The input makes sense with the areas to receive light & polyps to feed....

 

[Vleis]

There was a paper I read regarding how as a percentage of growth, smaller frags grow faster than larger colonies, might have been on reef breeders or MACNA research... I'll see if I can find it.

Seems counter intuitive to me, but nature is weird like that.

Would appreciate that...

In a sense i guess ALL the coral farms would've done that if it actually worked.

@WWC @jfox @tidalgardens(wish i knew their handle ) Have you guys ever tried this or is it just FAIRY TALES?

 

[Softhammer]

There was a paper I read regarding how as a percentage of growth, smaller frags grow faster than larger colonies, might have been on reef breeders or MACNA research... I'll see if I can find it.

Seems counter intuitive to me, but nature is weird like that.

I think you are right. The thing is though A higher percentage of a minuscule weight still doesn’t add up to a lower percentage of a higher weight. Such a 50% growth on a 1 gram coral over say a month only equals 1.5 grams whereas 25% increase on a 100 gram coral would be 125gms. So smaller has higher rate but mass increase is 50x greater on the bigger frag. -totally hypothetical numbers but you get my point.

 

[Softhammer]

Until they fuse, at which point you no longer have micro frags, it just took longer to achieve a normal sized flat frag..

 

[Daddy-o]

There has been a lot of work done on "escape size" I like to mount a frag in the traditional way and once the encrusting takes off, cut the stick and use it to start another frag. The encrusting starts to grow like this: (for size reference it is on a 3 inch disc.) and there are approx. 20 growing tips.

 

[Meldrath]

Would appreciate that...

In a sense i guess ALL the coral farms would've done that if it actually worked.

@WWC @jfox @tidalgardens(wish i knew their handle ) Have you guys ever tried this or is it just FAIRY TALES?

I think you are right. The thing is though A higher percentage of a minuscule weight still doesn’t add up to a lower percentage of a higher weight. Such a 50% growth on a 1 gram coral over say a month only equals 1.5 grams whereas 25% increase on a 100 gram coral would be 125gms. So smaller has higher rate but mass increase is 50x greater on the bigger frag. -totally hypothetical numbers but you get my point.

Growing coral larger and faster: micro-colony-fusion as a strategy for accelerating coral cover - PMC

Fusion is an important life history strategy for clonal organisms to increase access to shared resources, to compete for space, and to recover from disturbance. For reef building corals, fragmentation and colony fusion are key components of ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

https://www.nshss.org/media/29810/boyce.pdf

 

[Vleis]

Growing coral larger and faster: micro-colony-fusion as a strategy for accelerating coral cover - PMC

Fusion is an important life history strategy for clonal organisms to increase access to shared resources, to compete for space, and to recover from disturbance. For reef building corals, fragmentation and colony fusion are key components of ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

https://www.nshss.org/media/29810/boyce.pdf

MY GUY