How do you remove the corals from the frag plug?

TheNowMovement · Nov 29, 2014

I love the idea of buying small frags of coral and letting them grow out... my only beef with it is I hate having plugs lying around the tank... i want them to look realistic and glued on rocks... whats the easiest way to get corals off of the plug without harming the corals? There are soo many corals that i love but am deterred because they come on awful plugs.

DFW · Nov 29, 2014

razor blade?

WindeyD · Nov 29, 2014

Depends on the coral variety; some are better left on the plug such as encrusting varieties, but I have had success using a razor blade to remove many corals from the plug and then glue them directly to rock.

ksanfranfan · Nov 30, 2014

As already mentioned, depends on what type of corals your talking about. SPS like acros can be simple to remove unless they are already fully encrusted on the plug. Some LPS like candy canes, hammers and frogspawn are easy as well. All these types can easily be removed by hand. Same thing with certain softies. Other corals like zoanthids,palythoas, chalices, etc. you may be able to use a razor blade but it depends.
Corals that I've left on frag plugs , once they have grown out and encrusted on to the rocks or grown out branches, you don't see the plug anymore. So although it might not look natural at first, eventually it will.
Just something to think about.

mfinn · Nov 30, 2014

I have a set of inexpensive ( Harbor Freight) wood chisels for fragging, breaking live rock up and for removing frags off ugly frag plugs.

sawdonkey · Nov 30, 2014

I use a chisel too if it isn't fully encrusted. If it is encrusted, I cut off the stem of the plug and just glue it to the rockwork.

talwen · Nov 30, 2014

I usually just put the plugs with the coral on the rock. Only downside is you have to use a ton of coral glue or they are hard to place. in a matter of months you cant even see the plugs and if you ever want to frag or sell you can just break the plug off with pliers. sometimes it even frags itself that way.

DAPG8GT · Nov 30, 2014

Sps all come off of the plugs ( well eventually) by the use of my bone cutters. Others that are definitely in the final resting place and can't be removed from the plug are usually glued to the rock then I run a bead of epoxy around the base fanned out to the rock. In my old tank I had a piece of rubble I used to add the natural look to the epoxy by pressing it into it before it cured. Haven't done that yet in my new tank due to overstocking and the need to thin out common varieties. You can get it to look more like natural rock and once it's covered in coraline algae or just ages you can't tell the difference.

EW_Fish · Nov 30, 2014

Like others have mentioned it really depends on what type of coral it is and how much it has encrusted onto the plug. I have a few plugs in my reef but I'm the same way I dislike seeing them I use a few different things to take the coral off (mostly sps) flat head screw driver (large and baby one), razor blade, & bone cutters. I normally find a good spot for them so that I don't have to use a lot of glue but some I like on an edge and have to use a lot of glue. so there is pros and cons to it but in this hobby its what you like.

MagicMiller72 · May 9, 2021

So if it is cut at the base as to get it off the small dull piece of plug to affix it elsewhere is ok for the coral? I have a finger leather that I want to move off the plug and onto a bigger frag piece to be able to move around if needed. Here is a pic. If anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it. The plug is small and lite and doesn't fit well onto other frag pieces, and I prefer not to put it directly into the live rock due to the need of more live rock. But it keeps getting knocked around by one of my fishes...Clown, Damsel, Blenny.

Rmckoy · May 9, 2021

Cut the base off the plug and leave the flat disk part that’s it’s attached to. .
It will eventually encrust over it not to be seen .
Saves damaging the frag

MagicMiller72 · May 9, 2021

It seems like it is rooted to the plug. I cut the string that was supposed to be holding it and went to remove it, but I saw what looked like Roots and was afraid to do anything else until I made sure it's ok. I did also tear a little pice of the side of it accidentally while trying to pull it off originally and noticed it right away and stopped.

MagicMiller72 · May 9, 2021

Rmckoy said:
Cut the base off the plug and leave the flat disk part that’s it’s attached to. .
It will eventually encrust over it not to be seen .
Saves damaging the frag

The base has been cut...I was only curious what the best way to go was. So basically just leave it and do what I can with it then? I can do that.

Rmckoy · May 9, 2021

MagicMiller72 said:
The base has been cut...I was only curious what the best way to go was. So basically just leave it and do what I can with it then? I can do that.

Many others remove the frag from the plug all together. .
I always tend to get frags encrusted over the plug .

blasterman · May 9, 2021

I frikken hate frag plugs. I know they are convenient in a rack but they suck for anything else. I stick to frag discs for mounting. For zoas I know grow fast I use flat chunks of lava rock about 2" wide.

Once a coral encrusts on the plug i dont screw with it. I have a pair of plyers with a cutting edge and just snip as much of the base off as possible leaving just the disc.

Ryan777 · Dec 19, 2023

Question I am noob
These are my first corals, I didn’t remove any corals from the frag plug except had the store remove one. I did trim out the base of the plug and glued the frag circle on top of another plug. It doesn’t look the greatest.

Question - I have hair algae from one of the plugs as you can see in the video in my coral qc tank. Should I use a chemical product, or do I need to pull them all out and cut them with a razor blade, box cutter? What about play toxin from the 2 different zoas? Is the hammer ok to remove?

mfinn · Dec 19, 2023

Seems like the algae is pretty minimal right now. I would use a soft brush like a tooth brush and carefully scrub ( lightly) the algae off.
In several decades of keeping zoanthids I have never experienced this zoanthid toxin I keep hearing about.
If you want to be careful, wear rubber gloves and eye protection.

Ryan777 · Dec 20, 2023

mfinn said:
Seems like the algae is pretty minimal right now. I would use a soft brush like a tooth brush and carefully scrub ( lightly) the algae off.
In several decades of keeping zoanthids I have never experienced this zoanthid toxin I keep hearing about.
If you want to be careful, wear rubber gloves and eye protection.

Thank you, and happy holidays!

Macbalacano · Dec 20, 2023

Spent a lot of time thinking about this and researching it. If I can, easily see the glue between the plug and the coral, I take a flathead screwdriver and pop them off.

For ones that encrust or can't safely be pulled off. I bought a Dremel tool and used a diamond cutting wheel (this is important as the other wheels can't properly cut through plugs) and I slice off the stem (leaving the rest of the plug alone) pretty easily and cleanly.