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Fragging a Bubble Coral need help

Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Hi, I would like to frag my very large bubble coral. Dose any one know the best way in doing so.
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C

concept3

Guest
that's a toughie. I don't think I've ever seen one fragged since they are so sensitive. I would imagine you would need to do it when the vesicles are deflated and maybe with a quick snap instead of a wet saw or tile cutter. Personally, I'd be afraid to. Why not try snipping a small section off first and see what that cut piece does? With fragged corals, make sure your water is on PAR so they recuperate quicker- good luck, let us know what you decide to do :)
 
R

reneeRN

i have fragged several bubble coral. i bought a wet tile saw. upon watching calfo frag lps with his, i had to have one. he told me to go to home depot, and whalah! 59bucks later i had a wet saw. that thing is awesome, it is portable, mostly plastic, great for salt water. oh yea, DO make sure you fill the sump of the saw with warm salt water from your tank and have a bucket to put the frags in, they really slime. before you start, get the polyps or bubbles to deflate by taking the coral out of the water slightly and back in the water, it takes a few dunks, and the coral slowly retracts. the weight of those water filled sacks will rip the bubbles if you dont let it deflate, be gentle. if anyone wants to borrow the tile saw, i will bring it to the next meeting so you can cut some there. bring tank water. pm me if anyone wants to try it.
oh yea, the blade needs to be a very fine cutting diamond encrusted blade. also if you purchase one of these, MAKE SURE YOU RUN FRESH WATER THRU IT WHILE IT IS RUNNING before yyou store it.
Have fun.
RENEE
 
C

Carlo

I've fragged (split) a few bubble corals and hammers. I basically did the same as reneeRN but used a dremel which cuts through corals easily and pretty quickly.

Carlo
 
blange3

blange3

So where do you cut? It appears they only have one mouth. Do you leave the mouth intact or cut through it?
 
Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
blange3 said:
So where do you cut? It appears they only have one mouth. Do you leave the mouth intact or cut through it?
Click to expand...
Very good question
 
C

Carlo

I cut right through it. I tried finding out the proper way to do it but couldn't find any info on it. I asked the question on ReefCentral but no one was sure (that answered) so I figured what the heck and tried it.

Both the bubbles and hammers slim ed really bad after cutting them (expected). They all recovered with no losses. However, I will comment that after doing the cutting on both of these corals I didn't like the look of them after that. In a way I'd say I ruined the look of them. IMHO, I doubt I'd cut these particular corals again in the future if they had a good look to them in the first place.

Carlo
 
blange3

blange3

Thanks Carlo,

I'll pass on fragging bubbles. I do have some hammers that are getting big enough to frag this year. I'll only take branches that can be cut below tissue lines, however.
 
C

Carlo

No problem.

I picked up a hammer last week that was "dead" in the center. I got it pretty cheap. I dropped it in the tank to make sure it was going to make it and it seems to be doing good except for the center.

I'm going to cut it into two different pieces tonight. Maybe I'll grab some pics while doing it. Hammers and bubbles are basically the same as far as fragging goes.

Carlo
 
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