newbie frag question

I bought a few frags yesterday to add to my tank. first time ever adding coral. I just placed the rock on top of my live rock in places its wedged in, as the lfs said its good at first to not epoxy. Do most people grind down the rock the frag is attached too? Also, If I get a frag from someone online, is dipping a good idea, and how do you do it. Also, the stuff at the LFS is really expensive, is there a cheaper way to start getting corals. Thanks

 

if you have the right tools and the hand skills you may attempt to reduce the frag rock but personally i would not recommend it as you may risk harming the animal. it will eventually/hopefully grow big enough that the frag rock it came with will be a long forgotten memory. this is what happened with one of my ricordea it has spread to the point where you dont see the frag it came on.

 

and welcome to 3 reefs btw

 

I would really recommend securing your frags down with epoxy or something along those lines. Snails, crabs, even fish can knock you frags around as they pick at the rock. I would also recommend all your frags regardless of where they come from, LFS, online, anywhere.

I am like you the few not so LFS I have charge a good bit for thier frags. I usually have to drive a couple hours one way to find decent priced frags, and for the smae amount in gas I can shop online. With the weather cooling off now I would have no problem shopping online.

As far as cheaper frags there are alot of options. There are several sponsors here on the site that can take care of you. Reef-a-Holic being my personal favorite. I have shopped with them multiple times and you will definitely be taken care of. Great pieces, prices & shipping.

Next I also recommend hitting the all mighty ebay. There are alot of dealers that sell (usually smaller and cheaper) frags. The thing to look at for them of course is feedback and s&h. There are quite a few out there that have set price s&h regardless of if you order 1 or 10. Granted these are smaller frags alot of the sellers have, but that is what I like. I take pride in watching my smaller frags grow.

 

I would recommend EBay for buying frags at a good price

 

ebay but cautious

 

Try to find local online forums. I found a few people who live in my town who sell frags out of their tanks. You would be surprised at how many people are in this hobby.

 

Best way to get cheap / almost free frags close by is..... just gettin your friends into the hobby and frag their corals muahahaha. Idk about online shopping.. never done it. I live in Miami so getting pieces here is not a problem if you know the right people. good luck!

 

I would recommend dipping all your corals in a coral dip like Revive or something similar. It will help remove any unwanted pests such as flat worms, etc. It's also good for the coral.

As far as securely attaching frags, you should not do that right away. Place your coral where you want it an wait a week or two to make sure the coral likes the light, flow, etc. You can always glue it down once you like where it's at and the coral likes it also.

 

Get a drill bit for stone and drill into a piece of rock then just put glue in the hole and put the frag plug in. After a while the coral will grow over the plug and look perfect. This is the best way i have found.