No Holes in Rock for Frag Plugs

Alrighty... my rocks don't have enough holes in them for the frags I've got. Now remember, I only have 4 rocks in my tank, and basically the entire top of the largest rock is covered with those green hairy mushrooms (which I don't want to get rid of... I like those things!

So, if I have no holes that are large enough to fit the frag plugs into... what do I do?

I'm quite sure the answer is to remove the frag from the plug, but... wanted to see if there was a better idea first.

Is it the plugs with the peg on the bottom? I cut the peg off my plugs with bone cutters and epoxy or superglue gel them to the rock.

ritter678 wrote:Is it the plugs with the peg on the bottom? I cut the peg off my plugs with bone cutters and epoxy or superglue gel them to the rock.

Yes, pegs on the bottom.

matt_longview wrote:

ritter678 wrote:Is it the plugs with the peg on the bottom? I cut the peg off my plugs with bone cutters and epoxy or superglue gel them to the rock.

Yes, pegs on the bottom.

The peg snips right off then I decide where I want it and dab a little glue on the bottom. Like this,

i got some polyps on a frag plug just like that from gabe, i took it and cut it up with some wire cutters till it was basically just the material the frag was sitting on instead of the big plug, and then glued that to a rock in my tank. its a bit more subtle.

Win wrote:i got some polyps on a frag plug just like that from gabe, i took it and cut it up with some wire cutters till it was basically just the material the frag was sitting on instead of the big plug, and then glued that to a rock in my tank. its a bit more subtle.

That's a good way to do it. Takes those ugly plugs out of sight. SPS usually encrust so fast that I don't worry about hacking up the plug but I would for a coral like a birdsnest that doesn't encrust much. Most sps don't take very long to cover a plug.
Same coral without cutting the plug,

lol... o... right.... sps cover up things... yeah... i dont think any of the corals i keep do that lol

You could always use a power drill with the right size bit to create your own holes. Just make sure there's no oil or other contaminants on the bit.

I took some wire cutters and cut that plug off, then I cut all along the edges so that the plug isn't just this big perfect circle. Once it gets covered in algae hopefully it will blend right in like a bump in the rock.

If they don't encrust I'll likely frag them once they're large enough and mount the frag directly to my rock to remove any visible plugs. Things like that are a lot more noticeable in as small of a system as mine! :-)

That's my plan for the new SPS tank Matt. I will frag the frag (hmmm that sounds funny) on the plug and mount it straight to the rock. I hate those frag plugs.

BigBlue wrote:That's my plan for the new SPS tank Matt. I will frag the frag (hmmm that sounds funny) on the plug and mount it straight to the rock. I hate those frag plugs.

Thats the way I do mine now, I just cut the frag off the plug with my dremel if its a big frag or if you put just a little force on the frag, it will usally just come loose from the plug if its the cement plugs that are flat on top. If its the black plastic plugs like ORA uses be careful because these plugs have a hole in the center and the frag is mounted down in the hole, pressure on these might break the frag. Its easy to tell if they will come loose or not with a little practice. I have not broken any yet this way but if one broke, you could just mout the part that broke. The best way I have found to do this, is to simple use super glue gel and put a glob on the coral stem and quickly insert it into a hole in the live rock and hold it for a few seconds, this works great, just trial fit it first.

+1 donnie dremel works great