Acrylic Frag Plugs - Opinions?

Lovemycj7

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Hi was just wondering why I don't see more people use acrylic frag plugs? I have been growing coral on acrylic and I love how easy it is to frag the coral. Cutting off acrylic is so easy. Is there a negative to using acrylic that I don't know about?
 

ahiggins

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Ive never tried it because the acrylic plugs are a lot more expensive. I do have a black frag rack that I use for all of my frags to grow in. Its really easy to cut them off after they have grown off the plug.
 

Pola0502ds

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My experience with them has been that super glue doesn't stick to them as well as ceramic. Its too smooth and thats why i don't like them. Few times i would wake up in the morning with frags missing. And they are too light. If i have to move my frag rack down from the top and if i dont go slow enough the acrylic plugs always come out.
 

ahiggins

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My experience with them has been that super glue doesn't stick to them as well as ceramic. Its too smooth and thats why i don't like them. Few times i would wake up in the morning with frags missing. And they are too light. If i have to move my frag rack down from the top and if i dont go slow enough the acrylic plugs always come out.
Very interesting. I had no idea
 
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Lovemycj7

Lovemycj7

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Ive never tried it because the acrylic plugs are a lot more expensive. I do have a black frag rack that I use for all of my frags to grow in. Its really easy to cut them off after they have grown off the plug.

Yeah it's so easy taking them off acrylic which is why I'm surprised I don't see more of it.
 
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Lovemycj7

Lovemycj7

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My experience with them has been that super glue doesn't stick to them as well as ceramic. Its too smooth and thats why i don't like them. Few times i would wake up in the morning with frags missing. And they are too light. If i have to move my frag rack down from the top and if i dont go slow enough the acrylic plugs always come out.
So far I've only been using them for zoa polyps only and that has worked. I haven't tried coral on rock which I could see making a difference.
 

HighTideCoral

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A couple reasons in my opinion. 1) They're lighter than ceramic and could be a problem in high flow frag tanks. 2) Cost. Acrylic is much more expensive. 3) The cheaper acrylic is extruded which melts back together when cutting with a saw. Cell cast acrylic would come off in shavings but is much more money.
 

Triggreef

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I never had good luck with gluing zoas down if they aren't already attached to something. So that and the other reasons above are why I don't use them.
 

kireek

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I personally like the look of acrylic.However they are expensive, lightweight and impossible to cut by hand.I have found that some corals will not attach as well to the plugs.Especially zoanthids.Algae won't grow well onto them either,which is nice.In addition it is very difficult for pest to hide around the base of acrylic plugs.
 

amps

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Terrible if you ever plan on cutting the stem off to glue them to your rock (or customer's rock). I've had to use a hacksaw a few times and I've sworn off acrylic since.
 

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