here are my lastest frags (unknown scientific name) electric baby blue staghorn (i think) ... you can see why it was fragged ... i got one heck of a price on it so i could not resist trying to save and reproduce it. a couple have bleached out on me but i still have the other 8 frags. i think the others bleached because of the condition they were in before the cutting. the ones that bleached were in the worst cindition on the mother colony.

first the mother colony ... then all the little ones ...

Hey! Welcome to TR Bobby!!!

Great job with the fragging. good luck with those guys coming back...the color is great on the good parts!

awesome, thanks...

i cant wait to get mine growing some more, i really want to get a how to video on that...

You know Bobby there are alot of frags there and it looks like you are out of room. If you want you can send some my way and i will "store" them for you. lol :)


Very cool frags. Great job on them..

in a couple of weeks they will be for sale ... i just like to get them growing and encrusting before i sell them. i will post in the classifieds when they are ready.

Bobby, I haven't got the 100g anywhere near ready but save one of those bad boys for me :-)

Great job!

Does the line for frags start here?

I brought my tent. :)

i think that they will all be sold to you guys, so i guess i need to find another mother colony of this staghorn acro. it is just extremely hard to get a scientific name on acros unless hte store you get them from has them listed. i guess i will shoot Eric an email and see if he knows before i buy another one.

just fyi
when your ready, the selling forum is here (http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/selling-items/)

looks like you already have some takers

Bobby...

Can you point me in the direction for your supplier of your little propagation plates that fit so nicely in your egg crate? I am looking for something just like that for my project...

sure jeff, you can get them at Eden (http://www.edensgatecorals.com) ,what i like about them is that they are ceramic, so there is no need to "cure" them. as you can noticed ... they fit right into the egg crate (like a glove).

Great information. I did a bunch of searching yesterday right after I posted my question to you and found 5 or 6 aragonite plug manufacturers. I had no clue they needed to be cured, and of course - none of them mention this.

How do you cure an aragonite plug?

the same way that you cure LR if the LFS hasn't done it. just drop them in a seperate SW tank for a few weeks and let them become live. the ceramic ones i use don't need to be cured though. i do have some aroganite ones that a buddy gave me, they are curing in my QT tank right now. if i get a new coral for the reef, it will bet a reef dip so everything dies that might be on it. all i QT is fish, and i am at my limit on those !!

edensgatecorals.com has great prices on the ceramic plugs though.

Bobby, do you do a lot of propagating? I am very new to this, and would love to exchange emails with you.

I will definitely consider the ceramic plugs. Sounds like a reasonable idea! :)

i do my ALOT of propagation for myself (to offset my hobby expenses) and for some of the LFS's ... feel free to email me at reef-keeper@hotmail.com.

Excellent! I'll try to keep some of the stuff on the forums so others can benefit from the discussion, but I'll probably email you from time to time as well!

anytime, my e-mail is always open.

just drop them in a seperate SW tank for a few weeks and let them become live.

Could I use the return area of my prop tank? Or should they be kept out of an existing setup with livestock?

Hey bobby...

http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/attachments/coral-fragging/970d1166222536-my-latest-fragging-adventure-baby-blue-frags2lmas.jpg

How do you attach these frags? Super glue, epoxy, or something else?

I am ready to rock here with the exception of one thing... I don't have glue. GARF is out of reef glue, the damn small tubes I have been buying at the building supply store seem to be 1/3 full or less at $5 a whack, and I really have never had the best luck with the two part marine epoxy you can buy at the LFS unless I use a LOT of it.

School me, oh wise one.

(Yeah, I got the ceramic discs too, thanks for that tip. My big badass bone cutters came yesterday and I can't wait to try them. Anyone have an extra finger I can practice on or something? :D)

i use one drop of loc-tite superglue gel on the DRY bottom of the frag and one drop on the plug. stick the frag AND plug in a bowl of tank water to get it "skinned over" for a few seconds. then sit it in the water while you frag other things. then place in the tank or acclimate to a new tank.

yep, you can use any super glue gel, i get the stuff from the dollar store, three tubes for $1
i usually by a handful of them.
one tube is good for a night of fragging for me.. :)
always a main to try and get more out of a previously used tube, but it can be done.. :)

besides that, my proccess is about the same as Bobby's. but i think i use a bit more glue.. :)

I just found this glue the other day and ordered an 8 oz. bottle of the thick stuff. I'll let you know how it goes. I am just tired of messing with the little tubes which I SWEAR are 1/2 to 1/3 full.

http://www.e-zbond.com/Product.htm

My big question though is does the nozzle clog up? I never use up a whole tube and the next time you want it you can't get it out of the tube!

it does sometimes Carmiejo, but even then you just cut off the tip and go to town. i have only had the loc-tite brand clog up once or twice in the last couple of years. the key is to wipe it off when you get done, and screw the cap on TIGHT.

Jeff, sorry i missed this question. but the answer is this IMO. you CAN use the prop tank to let them begin the growout and encrusting process, BUT i will ALWAYS recommend running active carbon somewhere in the prop system. i frag SOME soft corals, which release toxins. the carbon helps to remove it from the water giving the corals a cleaner and less toxic system for them to grow in.