Cup Coral (Turbinaria) Fragging 101

Discussion in 'Frags' started by mikejrice, Oct 25, 2013.

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  1. mikejrice

    mikejrice 3reef Affiliate

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    I've been thinking about making some fragging videos for awhile, and it's finally time. I'm going to start with a pretty easy one, cup coral, but I'll be moving into some more interesting ones in the future. If you'd like to see a specific type of coral, please feel free to let me know, and I'll work on getting a video online for you.

    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 Cup Coral (Turbinaria):

    Cup coral has one of the softest of hard coral skeletons which makes it easy to cut with just about any high-speed abrasive cutters.

    Due to it's toadstool-like shape, it can easily be fragged by removing a halo from around it's outer perimeter which can then be segmented into smaller frags. This produces a large number of frags while preserving the original growth form of the colony.

    As with all LPS corals, survival and growth rate after fragging can be greatly increased by avoiding as many polyps as possible while cutting.


    Cuts are sped up 4x

    If there's a specific species of coral that you would like to see cut up, feel free to comment in this thread or send me a PM.
     
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  3. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    Fantastic detail, and dang you make it looks easy.
     
  4. mikejrice

    mikejrice 3reef Affiliate

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    Thank you. Truth be told though, that's one of the easiest hard corals I've ever fragged.
     
  5. ClippersTown

    ClippersTown Fire Worm

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    that's awesome dude, pretty easy coral to frag haha
     
  6. Av8Bluewater

    Av8Bluewater Giant Squid

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    Can you frag a fungia like that... (trim around the rim)?
     
  7. Va Reef

    Va Reef Giant Squid

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    Assuming you're talking about plate corals I believe you can't, they need the mouth, and are extremely fragile, even a cut in the flesh or skeleton can lead to death. I had a small rock fall on the side of mine, and that lead to eventual death.

    Mike, great video! I've always wondered how to frag turbinaria as I have a colony.

    Could you do a video on maxi-mini anemones or a wall hammer?

    +K
     
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  9. mikejrice

    mikejrice 3reef Affiliate

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    Agree.

    I'll see what I can do. Might have to be a wall frogspawn unless I can get a hold of a nice hammer in the near future.
     
  10. Va Reef

    Va Reef Giant Squid

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    Doesn't matter what type of euphyllia, I was just curious about the "wall" aspect of it.
     
  11. Av8Bluewater

    Av8Bluewater Giant Squid

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    You can frag fungia (plate coral ) for sure. They do not need the mouth. The thing I was wondering is the way you made a circle while cutting. I think that would be a good way to do a fungia if you left a little more on the edge. Here's a link to some fungia fragging.
    http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/198351-fragging-a-fungia/
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2013
  12. mikejrice

    mikejrice 3reef Affiliate

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    Very neat. I'm going to have to try this now.