Adding corals to a tank

Ok, so I bought 3 coral frags last week. These are the first 3 corals I ever owned. They are each on coral frags. I placed the corals in the tank on the plugs and they are down inside the holes in the rock work. So should I attach them to the rock with glue (obviously aquarium safe gel glue or epoxy) or leave them the way they are. How do you guys do it? Do you remove them from the frag plug first? Thanks...

 

You can do whatever you like.

If a coral was on a plug and I could find a spot for it, I usually left it on. If the coral is pretty encrusted over onto the plug, I would leave it on. Sometimes I could not find a decent spot or the plug just didn't work and I would take it off and glue it to my liking.

The only time I actually glued a plug down to rock was when the coral was really encrusted and I did not want to risk killing it.

 

Id leave it on the plug for a few weeks to make sure it does well in your tank. Then if you can get it off safely, glue it wherever you want. I give all my frags time to adjust to my tank and lighting before I put them on a rock. You can't acclimate or adjust once its glued down. Remember, the spot you pick for your coral isn't always where the coral wants to be. Make sure its happy for a few weeks in one spot before gluing it.

 

I cut the nipple off of the plug and contour down the the rock with epoxy. It hides the plug and will grow over it in time. I also like to find frags that have encrusted a little before purchase.

 

I usually break the stem off the bottom of the frag plug with some pliers. Just kinda crush it off. Then find a place and use aquastik epoxy putty. That's an art in itself trying to find a way to get it to stick. Depending on the coral you may have to acclimate it. Since it's your first coral you could simply raise your lights if necessary and lower them over a few weeks. Or reduce hours of full lights.. different ways to skin that cat. That's usually for SPS though. What did you buy?

 

I like to put some super glue on both the frag side and rock side of epoxy.

 

I'll try that next time. If there is no where for that putty to get a good hold it won't work very well.

 

I think you already got the "right" answer, but I also recommend to leave them on the frag plug until they are fully acclimated. And I leave the corals that will fully encrust over the plugs on there permanently.

 

I just use super glue under the water to glue my frags. I found d that it works better for me to just keep everything underwater and glue it as it sits. A lot easier than tearing apart my aquascape.