Slow to base out frags vs. Algae

[Ocelaris]

So I am curious about tricks that people use for frags that are slow to base out. My experience is that faster growing frags will encrust over little hair algae, but slower ones (especially when I used a lot of superglue) will be stunted by the algae that will inherently grow first on the superglue. Snails and tangs help somewhat, but I'm just looking for tips besides using less superglue?

I've taken to dipping new frags that are small in hydrogen peroxide where for one reason or another I chose to keep the frag plug. If it's a fairly small frag and started to encrust or a totally encrusted plug I'll often leave it. This assumes it's a trusted vendor. Lfs or fellow hobbyist frags always get deplugged. Usually if I start to see it base out in a week or two (or three or four) I'm golden.

It seems hit or miss, sometimes. Sometimes chop shop maricultured frags will encrust (most times not). I have a small 3/4 rainbow yellow tenius that is for all intents and purposes happy with full pe, but it hasn't encrusted so I've gotten algae at the base which is kind of a death knoll. Do you redip the algae base in hydrogen peroxide? Do you cut it off and reattach on a small plug with glue? Any tips are appreciated!

 

[Idaho Lone Wolf]

Toothbrush!! Emerald Crab is also a good algae eater. Never heard of using hydrogen peroxide. I would be afraid the HP would hurt or kill the coral. Maybe that is something I need to be educated on

 

[Ocelaris]

Yeah, I have a really fine toothbrush and I've done that, but it's a pain to get real close, sometimes nicking the frag.

Hydrogen Peroxide is a great tool to clean almost any algae off a frag plug. For SPS, I typically don't actually get the frag in the H2O2, just the plug and/or glue. It works really well, but disturbing the frag is disturbing the frag; so I don't really like doing it unless the toothbrush or other less injurious methods don't work.

Frags usually power through coralline algae for me, leaving a stinging white band around where they're growing. But the wiry green algae which is usually mowed to 1-2mm by the snails seems to stop the frag from encrusting. Some extremely vigorous growers will grow over it, but it seems like they really like to have that physical contact to the substrate.

 

[Idaho Lone Wolf]

Thank you for the video. Very helpful and informative. Bulk Reef does a great job with these informative videos. Thank you for helping me learn something new today.