I need Advice

[strout]

I have made three frags in the past, including the one I lost last nite. I am using Lock Tight Super Glue Gel, the frags do real good for a few weeks and then the polyps start coming loose and disappear into the tank never to be seen again. Should I be using something other than the SG Gel. I had two polyps come loose and disappear last nite into the depths of my tank never to be seen from again. They weren't expensive polyps, just ones that I liked, that I had fraged off of a mixed polyp frag plug. I am thinkin I should be using some kind of cement. Any advice you can give me, I would greatly appreciate.

[ed102475]

what you are using is fine.are you using small rock/plugs? take the polyps out and put them in a bowl of tank water.when you are fraging try to glue the bottom of the polyp to the rock/plug so it touchs it flesh to rock/plug.using to much glue can cause them to come off the glue is to hold them untill it takes hold on the rock itself. then put in a low flow area for a few days. you can try a breeding net and some rock rubble they will attach themself after about a week.

[strout]

I am using both, sometimes a small piece of LR sometimes a plug. You lost me a bit in your reply, tell me if I get this right. What I want to do is, don't put glue on the very bottom of the polyp, I want the skin of the polyp to be touching what ever I am want the polyp to adhere to. Does that mean I want to put glue around the sides of the polyp and let it kinda run down onto the frag plug? Or do I put the glue on the bottom of the stems of the polyp and just not use much glue? I know I was using to much glue most likely on the ones I did.

[Skeptic_07]

Its hard to glue individual polyps directly. It can be done but its difficult because many times they come loose. When you make a frag, try to get a bit of the rock they are growing on and glue that.

here is a good read on fragging:

http://www.coralpedia.com/articles003.php

[goldmaniac]

what you're using is fine, the gel works better than the liquid

towel-dry the plug and the skin of the polyp at the base. important to make everything dry
squirt a small bit of gel on the frag - like 1/4" round and 1/4" tall
gently push the polyp(s) into the gel
let it dry outside of the tank for 5 -10 minutes
the polyp will be fine
place into low-flow area for the next couple of days

I'm certainly no expert but this works for me

[650-IS350]

IMO,

The polyp should be dry, dab it softly with tissue or soft rag. same as the plug your going to use.

Have 2 small cups with your current tank water. Your using this as clean off and curing station.

Put a decent amount of glue on the frag plug, gently place the polyps that your fragging on it. make sure only the bottom of the polyp gets glued.

Then place the polyp that's been attached with glue into the first cup. This cup allows the glue to settle a little and hold on the the polyp. This also assures that any chemicals leaching out of the glue are only in the cup. after a couple mins, place that frag in the 2nd cup where you cure it for another couple mins. This allows the frag to further cure and less chemicals from the glue are left. once complete, place the fragged plug in an area in your tank that has some good flow but not to much that it'll blow the polyp/s off the plug.

If you look at the cups you see film on the top of the water. that's just extra crap from the glue. It's not harmfull to the tank , just less stuff for your skimmer to take out. the cup tecnique just buys your polyp some curing time for the glue to harden a little and hold the polyp better. IN case the polyp slimes off and pops off the glue, you still have it and won't flow away since its in a cup not in your main/frag tank.

[strout]

Thanks for all the help, was tired of tosing polyps, lol.

[strout]

Thanks for all the help, was tired of losing polyps, lol.

[strout]

Thanks for all the help, was tired of losing polyps, lol.

[Guygettnby]

i agree with what 650 said. very good advice and thats how i do all of my frags too.

[strout]

After reading all the advice, I think what I did wrong was I didn't dry the polyp or the frag plug good enough before using the SG gel. I was trying to hurry real fast to get it back into the tank, I will slow down and do a better job next timw.

[650-IS350]

BTW, polyps in the wild are at times out of the water under the sun for hours during low tide.