Removing your zoas from the frag piece

[Jakemac]

So im just about ready to get my first coral ever. wooooooo
First thing i need is my light but i want to cram as much info as i can into my head so the first coral isnt my first coral in my tank/first coral that died

How do you remove the zoa heads off the frag rock/plug and attach it directly to your LR that you want it to be on?

Basically i dont want a tacky looking plug showing i want it to look as natural as possible, the corals to be attached directly to my LR

Ive seen a lot of people cutting off the coral with an exacto knife then super gluing them and found that because they are on a bigger surface area they grow really fast.

Im a newbie so if anyone has a video how to to do it or a walk through id be really grateful and probably save a lot of other peoples head aches.

This is the one time the googles didnt truly give me an answer:tongue:

 

[Davesgt]

Most of the time they will have a small piece of rock that the zoa was asctually attached to before they glued it to the frag plate. Best thing to do is to take a razor blade or exacto knife and try to pry/carefully cut the zoa off the plug. Once this has been done then youd be able to glue that to your live rock. Check this video out, im not sure but i believe a fellow reefer on here actually made this. Fragging Zoas off a Disk - YouTube

 

[Jakemac]

Wow that wasnt as bad as i thought. Only thing i wonder is how well will that work fragging off the frag (lol) then glueing it to the LR underwater in the tank??

 

[rworegon]

Use as little glue as is practical and use the gel superglue. After you dab a drop on the bottom of your frag, touch it to the tank water. This will put a skin on the glue. then you can just set it on the LR where you want it. Be careful not to crush the polyps when you put it on the rock. I usually just cut the bottom off the plug if there is one or trin the excess off the edges ang glue the plug to the rock. They spread out pretty quickly and cover the plug. Don't even know its there.

 

[YodaHart]

I usually just leave the zoas on the plug and glue it to the rock. Once they grow off the plug and onto the rock take out the plug and resell it. It's like getting free coral

 

[Davesgt]

glueing under water is no problem just give your self enough glue to work with and do a quick dip to create a layer on the glue. apply pressure to where you want it at without smashing the coral and WaLa there it is lol.

 

[Jakemac]

I dig it, feeling more confident each second lol

I think im going to try and use a chisel type thing like a flat head or even an exacto knife and peel a layer of the plug off with the zoa then glue that on. should look ok

 

[Davesgt]

let us know how it turns out. Hope we helped.

 

[joshporksandwich]

You can always cut the bottom of the plug. If it's glued and stable leave it there there's no need to stress the coral any further. Ic-gel is great for gluing onto rock.

 

[buddythelion]

You can always cut the bottom of the plug. If it's glued and stable leave it there there's no need to stress the coral any further. Ic-gel is great for gluing onto rock.

Yup! A great way to do it.

 

[Jakemac]

I was thinking something like this, not off completely but not stuck on the plug

 

[joshporksandwich]

I was thinking something like this, not off completely but not stuck on the plug

I would cut the plug. There's too many variables. What if the spot you pick is not good and you need to move? What if when you lift you hurt the zoa? I leave everything in the plugs especially for when everything starts trying to outgrow each other you can move a little bit or if you need to frag. My .02 cents.

 

[Jakemac]

Well id leave just a think layer of the plug so insted of having a thinckness of .5" it be down to 1/10" kinda like shaving the top layer off

 

[Mickeyt1reef]

I’m with you on the stupid plugs! And why ceramic? It’s hard as ****! I use a drimmal for hard corals. You can usually get under the glue. I’m about to order a bunch of zoa’s So I will be experiencing the same issue as you. Thinking the razor will be the trick. Someone needs to make aragonite plugs or just busted up Marco rock.

 

[Johnniebt]

I’m with you on the stupid plugs! And why ceramic? It’s hard as ****! I use a drimmal for hard corals. You can usually get under the glue. I’m about to order a bunch of zoa’s So I will be experiencing the same issue as you. Thinking the razor will be the trick. Someone needs to make aragonite plugs or just busted up Marco rock.

I found these at fish gallery this is what I use to transfer any frags.

 

[El_Guapo13]

I found these at fish gallery this is what I use to transfer any frags.

Fish Gallery? Like the franchise here in Texas at Houston, Austin, and Dallas? Which one? Cause I was at the one in North Houston/Woodlands on Saturday. but I don't remember seeing this product.

 

[Johnniebt]

Fish Gallery? Like the franchise here in Texas at Houston, Austin, and Dallas? Which one? Cause I was at the one in North Houston/Woodlands on Saturday. but I don't remember seeing this product.

they have it at the one in the woodlands. I actually just purchased individual pieces of it not the entire bucket. When you walk look to your right. They have another register like area and shelves behind it. I believe it was right next to the marine pure bio filter media. Hope that helps and good look!

 

[El_Guapo13]

they have it at the one in the woodlands. I actually just purchased individual pieces of it not the entire bucket. When you walk look to your right. They have another register like area and shelves behind it. I believe it was right next to the marine pure bio filter media. Hope that helps and good look!

Man I must have missed that. Too distracted by all the other equipment they had at that second register to notice. Then again, I was there mainly to get my water tested for the tank I am cycling, so I wasn't really paying attention to much else in the store other than seeing what corals and cuc they had.

 

[Johnniebt]

Man I must have missed that. Too distracted by all the other equipment they had at that second register to notice. Then again, I was there mainly to get my water tested for the tank I am cycling, so I wasn't really paying attention to much else in the store other than seeing what corals and cuc they had.

Yeah can get distracted quickly there lol. There very limited on there selection. If your looking for corals in town go to that aquarium place. I have some on order so follow me when I’m ready to frag a few you’ll see my post.

 

[Johnniebt]

Man I must have missed that. Too distracted by all the other equipment they had at that second register to notice. Then again, I was there mainly to get my water tested for the tank I am cycling, so I wasn't really paying attention to much else in the store other than seeing what corals and cuc they had.

Also just remembered another good local place in town. He has multiple frag tanks.