Acanthastrea Bowerbanki Fragging 101

Discussion in 'Frags' started by mikejrice, Jan 31, 2014.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. mikejrice

    mikejrice 3reef Affiliate

    Joined:
    May 24, 2009
    Messages:
    5,926
    Location:
    Colorado
    Methodology:

    The method I use for fragging the majority of hard corals is primarily the same with the cutting tooling being an Inland band saw.

    Cooling liquid used is fresh mixed saltwater with enough iodine to color it a light amber. This helps to disinfect cuts as they're made which has shown to greatly increase frag survival.

    All corals are stored during cutting in a small bucket holding water taken directly from their home aquarium. This water is used both to keep them wet as well as for rinsing any flesh away from cuts while I'm working on them.

    All finished, and rinsed, frags or trimmed colonies are soaked in Brightwell Aquatics Restor dip to insure that minimal flesh is lost.

    Both soak buckets are rinsed and replenished between colonies to reduce the risk of interactions between loose flesh of different coral species.

    Notes about Bowerbanki:

    Bowerbankis are one of the corals that will bear significant advantages if corallite boundaries are followed, so when cutting these corals, I always try to follow directly along the top of corallite walls.

    As with most LPS corals, cutting frags as thinly as possible will help to accelerate growth.

    Bowerbanki builds one of the most dense skeletons I've come across, so they can be quite hard to cut. Be sure to take your time and let the blade do the work.


    Cuts sped up 8x.

    If there's a specific species you would like to see fragged, please comment below.
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2014
  2. Click Here!

  3. mikejrice

    mikejrice 3reef Affiliate

    Joined:
    May 24, 2009
    Messages:
    5,926
    Location:
    Colorado
    These frags took a little while to start healing up, but they're starting to look pretty good now.

    Healing hot lava acan bowerbanki frags.
     

    Attached Files:

  4. mikejrice

    mikejrice 3reef Affiliate

    Joined:
    May 24, 2009
    Messages:
    5,926
    Location:
    Colorado
    [​IMG]
     

    Attached Files: