Drilling the rock in a tank that already has fish and some coral

[hopdevil1]

Greetings,
I couldn't find a relevant post for this and hope you good folks can help.
I have a 100 IM tank that has 12 fish and a few coral. The rock is CaribSea LifeRock.
When I created the aquascape, I didn't realize the importance of places to put the coral plugs.
The question is, if I use a long masonry bit can I drill into the rock without hurting anything?
I don't want to remove them to drill as many of the rocks are glued together (and heavy!) and they were put in before the sand was added so they are well set on the bottom and are home to some hermit crabs and other small creatures.
Am I crazy? (about this at least)
Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Seems like a tricky operation in tank. I’ve only ever done it dry and found Caribsea more fragile than Marco. I start with small pilot holes and increase bit size to avoid damage.

I hate the look of frag plugs but might be best to just cut the plugs off and glue the disks down to your scape.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Second on hating coral plugs. I throw my corals in frag racks in my tank so they can get used to the parameters and heal if necessary. Then, if it is a stick I cut the stick and glue it to my rock. Whats left on the plug becomes a new frag. If it is not a stick ie: meteor shower or what ever I trim the plug as close as I can, then glue that. Hope this helps. I know what you are thinking, but in the long term you will not be happy. Although occasionally you will come across a frag with a well encrusted plug that yes, it would be nice just to stick in a hole.

 

[Boreas_SA]

I would be wary of doing it inside the tank, it creates a lot of dust/sludge, which might not be ideal for the livestock. Maybe if you drain the tank to below where you want to drill and use wet dry vacuum to suck up the sludge while you drill it might be better.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I agree with you. I also drilled holes for plugs once (out of the tank).

I've found that a much more satisfying way is to buy a magnetic frag rack. This makes it very easy to acclimate a large purchase to lighting. Just put the rack at the bottom and slowly move it up. This gives your new coral time to really get settled in and healthy. Once healthy I move it across the rock work.

I also leave the frag on the plug until it gets to it's final location. At this point, cut the frag off of the plug glue it directly where I want it. Then if I want (I usually do) I throw the partially encrusted plug back on the frag rack and heal it up.

I don't lose acro or montipora like this and almost always get the partial plug healed up and started on its way.