Removing the plug from frags?

[~reefchik~]

Ok, so laugh 

I'm new to buying SPS on those plug things.  I got one that seems to be resin or plastic.  And it's fat.
What do people do with that ugly thing?  There's no hole in the rock I can plug it into.  Can I remove the frag from it and put it on the rock directly? 

[HUNGER]

i dont see why you cant

[Reefd Up]

I recommend removing the plug from all corals.  Plugs are a great hiding place for pests, nuisance algae, etc.  You can remove the coral from the plug and attach the coral directly onto the rocks with the use of reef-safe epoxy or a big glob of cyanoacrylate glue (super glue gel). 

[lilleigh]

I dip all my frags. Then remove them from the plug and superglue or epoxy them depending on what it is to rock rubble, or the rockwork in the tank. Then I grow out the base in my frag tank.

If I buy an entire colony I snip a frag off and glue that to the rock work for SPS. Keep the mother colony in the frag tank, and spread the frags around. Save a reef I say!!

Plastic? Get something from ORA? What did you buy?

[~reefchik~]

Yes, I think it's an ORA acro frag, what kind I forget at the moment but def. one of the less demanding ones.
It's a black golf-tee looking thing. 

So how do I remove it?  If I grasp the base of the frag, will it snap off clean?  Or do I scrap it off with a sharp knife or what?  I will be sick to my stomach if I destroy this nice little frag.  I have my super glue gel all waiting!

[HUNGER]

i would snap it off at the base

[lilleigh]

Yes, I think it's an ORA acro frag, what kind I forget at the moment but def. one of the less demanding ones.
It's a black golf-tee looking thing. 

So how do I remove it?  If I grasp the base of the frag, will it snap off clean?  Or do I scrap it off with a sharp knife or what?  I will be sick to my stomach if I destroy this nice little frag.  I have my super glue gel all waiting!

Frag snips, or you can snap it, depending on what it is. If you snap it, use your nails to grab it. Be Gentle with the coralites (holes for the polyps). You probably won't get the base off, which is fine. It won't grow up, until has established a good base where ever you put it.

Black plastic golf tees are ORA.

[chromiumlux]

That black plug isn't going to hurt anything if you have a nice crevice to insert it in.

[~reefchik~]

Well that was the problem.  No crevice fat enough.  I turned several rocks over and over.  The other deal is, most of my LR is now covered with large colonies of anthelia and colt.  It's hard to find space for the new stuff.

As it turned out, I just scraped the base a little with a paring knife and the frag popped right out of the hole in the top of the base.  The base of the frag glued into a small indentation very nicely.  I noticed polyp extension tonight for the first time, too. 

[HUNGER]

.  I noticed polyp extension tonight for the first time, too. 

thats good