Frag plug question

[Brad Coughlan]

Hey,
The other week I added some rhodactis mushrooms and I am trying to fill up a rock with them and make a garden, a few are still on a piece of rock that are attatched to frag plugs. The frag plugs they are on however are very weird, they don't have an actual long plug portion, but more like 4 little short squares on the bottom which make them very annoying to remove. I need to remove the piece of rock from the actual frag plug, managed to do it with one but another is hard to get off. I always feel nervous when getting any sharp tools next to corals because I fear I will damage them haha. What is the best way to go about detatching them from the plug without bone cutters?

 

[Derrick0580]

Are they the ecotech or generic ones made for egg crate? If so then I’ve used them in the past and they are very very hard to cut. Even my gryphon band saw struggled to cut them.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Are they the ecotech or generic ones made for egg crate? If so then I’ve used them in the past and they are very very hard to cut. Even my gryphon band saw struggled to cut them.

They look like this, my only option is to remove the rock that is glued to the plug which I find difficult with only scissors

 

[MoshJosh]

A few ways I tend to do it are:

Use a serrated knife, saw a small line into the superglue between plug and coral/rock, then use the knife to pry the two apart.

Use side cutters with the jaws as far around the glue joint as possible.

Use a pocket knife and just pry them apart.

Another way would be using two pairs of pliers, one on the plug and one on the rock. Normally I would not do this though as usually my corals are glued directly to the plug not rock then plug.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

A few ways I tend to do it are:

Use a serrated knife, saw a small line into the superglue between plug and coral/rock, then use the knife to pry the two apart.

Use side cutters with the jaws as far around the glue joint as possible.

Use a pocket knife and just pry them apart.

Another way would be using two pairs of pliers, one on the plug and one on the rock. Normally I would not due this though as usually my corals are glued directly to the plug not rock then plug.

Sounds good!
Cheers for the help

 

[MoshJosh]

Sounds good!
Cheers for the help

Yeah as long as you can get some purchase between the rock and the plug, like by cutting a little notch, you should be able to use any sort of prying tool. It is possible to damage stony corals using the prying method, where only part of the coral breaks free from both the plug and the rest of the coral, but should not be an issue with a rock.

In my experience side cutters are a more readily available alternative to bone cutters as long as you aren't looking for a super clean cut.

Also can use pliers or channel locks to hold the weird plug base if that helps. . . also obliterating the plug with pliers would probably do the trick as well.

 

[kevgib67]

I use bone cutters, very easy.