Simple frag plugs
 

Was doing some fragging of zoos and realised I had no plugs :eek: After thinking and looking around,I found a bunch of ceramic bio balls(small tubes from fluval).Used some loctite super gel on the end and presto!instant frag plug.I knew there was a reason I never throw things away :mrgreen:

how big are they?

Steve

http://www.paraquatics.co.uk/media/a364.jpg

They're about big around as a dime and about an inch long.I'm trying to figure what I could use to put through the center of the tube so I could suspend the frag up off the sandbed.

Fishing line strung between two rocks?
Great idea.
- Chad

I may be dumb, but I don't get it. :confused: , Even if you glue ten of them together, you still won't have a decent sized plug to allow growth. Then also the waste of expensive glue. I say see Sleeman. :biggrin:

I think you would actually end up with a decent number of polyps if they encircle a one-inch-long cylinder with that diameter - I know I learned a formula for surface area one time...
They would probably grow faster too because there would be circulation from all directions - like zoos growing on old acro skelletons!
I don't know if I'm the only one, but I hate frags mounted on agrocrete plugs! They look good but it is a bugger to take frags off of the plug because of all the crushed shells - pretty tough to cut through with a razor blade. JME.

- Chad

to small for mounting any reasonable sized frag to, would never hold it upright.

might be a good way of making a hole in home made cement plugs though

Steve

The plugs will hold about 8-12 polyps and you can drop them down into a crevise in the live rock to spread across the rock.I was reading somewhere about using very thin pieces of plexi to glue frag onto.When the time came to frag them,they peeled off real easy.Has anyone tried this,or would it be a waste of time?
I'm with Chad,I hate trying to pry zoos off a plug,just thought the flat plexi might work.

That' a great idea. I was considering growing them on plastic like from yogurt containers but that would probably get sliced up when you take the frags off. Plexi would be awsome, you could take off a thin top layer and not even cut the frag itself.

- Chad

I have made about 100 frags, and pulled them off all kinds if material, and, yes it can be a pain. However, I would think those little cylinders would look very unnatural. They would be fine if all you were doing is growing them on for future fragging.
I have another idea though. When Al was here last time he left about a dozen agrocrete plugs the size if a quarter. I have not used any yet because they would only hold a small amount of zoanthids. However you could mount a small number of zoos on them, and drop them into a crevice in your rock to let the grow onto the rock more naturally. :idea: