Favia - Out of Control

JGT · Apr 26, 2022

Any tips on how to:
a. Frag a favia that’s spreading onto the rocks and encroaching on other favias.
b. Contain it going forward

For a. I tried cutting it with a scalpel which worked well but I can’t get the cut piece off the rock.it’s like it’s glued down.

CoralB · Apr 27, 2022

Can you take the rock out to cut the rock???

Enderg60 · Apr 27, 2022

Use the trump method and build a wall. Out of epoxy that is.

Ive done this with just about every encrusting coral Ive had. If you want to keep two corals apart build a small hill/hump/wall of epoxy. I usually do 1" lengths in a line to make a fence. Then let the coral grow onto the epoxy and when it gets too big you pop the epoxy off and you have an instant frag.

JGT · Apr 27, 2022

CoralB said:
Can you take the rock out to cut the rock???

Unfortunately, no. It's at the bottom of my reef so needs to be done in tank. Otherwise, if I could remove would be a piece of cake.

JGT · Apr 27, 2022

Enderg60 said:
Use the trump method and build a wall. Out of epoxy that is.

Ive done this with just about every encrusting coral Ive had. If you want to keep two corals apart build a small hill/hump/wall of epoxy. I usually do 1" lengths in a line to make a fence. Then let the coral grow onto the epoxy and when it gets too big you pop the epoxy off and you have an instant frag.

This is a good idea ( not the trump reference) :). Guess I would need to make an incision on the main body side and then just pop off the epoxy. Would just need to ensure I remember cause if it grows up and over the wall. I'd need to do it all over again.
Wondering if in order to make the coral smaller overall I can put epoxy over what's grown? Maybe that would kill it and then it would try to grow from inside the epoxy wall and I can pop it off when the time is right.

CoralB · Apr 27, 2022

Enderg60 said:
Use the trump method and build a wall. Out of epoxy that is.

Ive done this with just about every encrusting coral Ive had. If you want to keep two corals apart build a small hill/hump/wall of epoxy. I usually do 1" lengths in a line to make a fence. Then let the coral grow onto the epoxy and when it gets too big you pop the epoxy off and you have an instant frag.

Why not instead of epoxy use the 3” frag discs , break them in half and glue them between the them . “ The trump wall idea” is a great idea and I bet you could use just about anything that’s thin with varying heights or translucency if you didn’t want it to stick out . I wish I came up with that !!! Good thinking !!

JGT · Apr 27, 2022

This would also work. I guess the main idea is to put something between the coral and the real estate. I like the epoxy idea because I can make a circle easily with it and put it down around the entire coral.