- Today, softie fragging 101.
My top fragging tools and tips
for soft corals like leathers, mushrooms, and zoas.
Here's what you'll see from start to finish.
Our suggested top tools for the job,
what to cut and how, and a couple of safety tips
that will keep you out of the ER.
I've been to the ER more than a couple of times,
and as much as I hate to admit it,
it was very easily avoidable both times.
Which brings me to tip number one, and that is safety first.
It's best practice to wear eye protection and gloves,
but absolutely mandatory for fragging zoanthids
as palytoxin poisoning is very serious
and is very easily avoidable.
So do the right thing and protect yourself.
And your gloves should fit, 'cause gluing small corals
is a huge pain with sloppy, loose gloves.
Two, prep work and basic tool check.
Keep your work area organized and your tools laid out.
I like to also have bright lighting,
so I see what I'm doing and what I'm cutting,
but if you're confined
to that dungeon-esque mad science lab,
you can always wear a headlamp to complete the look.
Three, let's talk uniform.
Make sure you wear clothes that you can get glue all over.
And also if you have longer hair, put it up or pull it back.
There is absolutely no magic trick
to getting glue out of your clothes or out of your hair.
Four, basic tools of the trade,
and make sure to keep them for fragging only.
Bone cutters, pick a size that you're comfortable handling,
a forceps for grabbing and holding corals,
a scissors, glue, and frag plugs or rubble.
I like to have assorted sizes
because personally I like to get creative
and I like to have options.
And last but not least,
make sure you have a towel for both the floor
and for your hands.
Number five, rinse your tools in RO.
Tools will rust, but they will rust way faster
if they're not cleaned after each use.
Number six, natural breaks and shapes.
Keeping in mind where you cut,
natural breaks and shapes can actually aid in faster healing
and more natural growth patterns.
Nobody likes a SpongeBob square frag,
especially if you're swapping or selling your frags.
Number seven pertains specifically
to mushrooms and leathers.
Generally you can't glue tissue directly to the rocks.
The corals actually create a slime coat
that will slough off the glue and it'll become a tumbleweed.
Number eight, trade secret cutting tools and tips.
Starting with mushrooms, use a bone cutter
and cut the polyp off the rock,
leaving a little bit of the substrate
so you can glue that to substrate or rubble.
You can glue the whole single mushroom to plugs or rubble
or use a scissors and cut them in half,
but each half must have a mouth.
Then put it in a cup of rubble area
where you can get good flow, but they're not blown around.
Then let them attach naturally to the rubble
and then glue them in.
Next up is leathers, which are super easy
to cut with the scissors.
The trade secret is securing them however,
which can be a little tricky.
You can sew them or rubber band them to your rubble,
or to your frag plugs, or take two and glue them together,
wedging them in the middle and letting them heal that way.
And zoas, which I want to reiterate safety first,
if they're on a rock, break up the substrate
with the bone cutters, again making sure
some of the substrate is still attached to the polyps.
They can be cut into individual single polyp frags,
but I found it more successful and faster recovery
when you have four to five polyps per frag,
when cutting through the mat, it is very compact,
so I always use a scissors or a sharp blade,
remembering to keep a natural shape
and cut as little tissue as possible.
Number nine, pick what sticks.
Create a bond and secure your investment.
I recommend using the BRS extra thick gel and insta set,
and when gluing, less is always best,
and I always have an extra bottle on hand,\.
Softies are pretty resilient
and can be out of water for a while.
Lot of them are found naturally in low tidal zones
where they're out for hours, so take your time.
Number 10, dipping before sticking.
When you're cutting through tissue,
namely with zoas, dip in iodine.
I use the Lugol's before sticking to a plug.
It promotes healthier
and generally more successful and faster recovery.
I also dip the mother colony as well.
Number 11, have lots of options.
Plugs, plates, and pieces of rubble.
Depending on the growth pattern of your corals,
whether you're growing them out in the display
or removing them for refragging,
generally speaking plugs are for selling and organizing,
discs and plates or for propagating later,
and rubbles are for display.
Number 12, promote healing.
Generally newly cut frags should be in higher flow areas,
and if you're cutting larger colonies,
I suggest using carbon or even doing a larger water change.
And where you placed your frags
should be under the same lighting conditions
and water parameters as they originally came from.
So whether you're sharing with your reefing buddies,
need to make room, or looking to make a couple extra bucks
to support your reefing addiction,
click the link and check out all of our fragging supplies
and have some fun.