- Location
- Franklin Lakes, NJ
Lissa and I sat down today to frag some large rocks and documented it for your viewing pleasure.
Warning: Zoanthids and Palythoa can contain palytoxin and should be treated with great care. Eye protection, mask and gloves are strongly recommended, and care should be taken not to dremmel through the polyps of these corals. If you have never used a rotary tool, or uncomfortable with this process, you should not attempt it.
Typical symptoms of palytoxin poisoning are angina-like chest pains, asthma-like breathing difficulties, tachycardia, unstable blood pressure, hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells), and an electrocardiogram showing an exaggerated T wave. The onset of symptoms is rapid, and death usually follows just minutes after.
Equipment needed:
Rotary Tool (Dremmel or similar tool)
Rotary Tool Cutting Disks
Chisel or Flathead Screwdriver
Hammer
Towels
Holding Bins
Surface you don't care about or scrap plywood.
Eye protection
Prepping your surface:
If you're working on a surface you don't want to mess up, place some plywood under some towels. It makes cleanup much easier. Put the corals you'll be fragging in a bin and keep a clean water bin for the frags so you don't need to run back and forth to your tank.
Prepped working surface
Coral holding / rinsing bin
Getting Ready to Cut:
Lay out your rock and try to determine where you want to make your cuts. Be aware that when the rock breaks, it might not break exactly where you want, but with a little practice, you can usually get it close.
Getting ready to make cuts
Starting your cut:
PUT ON SAFETY GOGGLES NOW
This is especially important if fragging zoanthids, as they contain a palytoxin strong enough even in small doses to kill a human. In addition, use gloves if you have any open cuts, hangnails, etc.
This is where it gets tricky... or fun depending on how you look at it. Turn the rotary tool on low speed. (After a little practice, high speed works better but you should start slow to avoid doing damage to the coral) Begin making your cut, being careful to keep the rotary tool straight to avoid snapping the cutting disk. On a thin rock, you may be able to go right through, but on a larger rock, you'll want a score line all the way around the area you're cutting.
Beginning to cut
Scoring the side
All the way around
When you start doing this it will probably take you awhile to go around so make sure you dip the coral into the holding bucket often to keep it wet. This will also help rinse off any rubble on the rock and let you see what you're doing.
Finishing the cut:
Once you've got a score line you'll need to finish the cut. Use a chisel or flathead screwdriver and get in into the cut you just made. Depending on the thickness of the rock, you may need to hit the rock in multiple places. Tap it with the hammer, move down the line a bit and tap some more. After you do this a few times you'll get a better feel for this.
Starting to chisel the rock
Going around the score line
Cleaning Up Loose Ends:
With zoas and other corals that form a mat on the rock, you may need to cut the mat once the rock is broken. A razor blade or scalpel works best for this. Continue wearing your goggles here and try not to cut through any of the polyps, just cut the mat slowly.
Cutting the mat
The Frags:
The whole process should only take about 2-3 minutes with a little practice, but you can go slow as long as you keep the coral wet. You should get a perfect split almost every time once you get good.
The finished product
Rinse the frags in the holding bucket again, (this way all of the cloudy water is in one place) then place them in your frag holding container and keep fragging until you're done.
Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any questions.
Warning: Zoanthids and Palythoa can contain palytoxin and should be treated with great care. Eye protection, mask and gloves are strongly recommended, and care should be taken not to dremmel through the polyps of these corals. If you have never used a rotary tool, or uncomfortable with this process, you should not attempt it.
Typical symptoms of palytoxin poisoning are angina-like chest pains, asthma-like breathing difficulties, tachycardia, unstable blood pressure, hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells), and an electrocardiogram showing an exaggerated T wave. The onset of symptoms is rapid, and death usually follows just minutes after.
Equipment needed:
Rotary Tool (Dremmel or similar tool)
Rotary Tool Cutting Disks
Chisel or Flathead Screwdriver
Hammer
Towels
Holding Bins
Surface you don't care about or scrap plywood.
Eye protection
Prepping your surface:
If you're working on a surface you don't want to mess up, place some plywood under some towels. It makes cleanup much easier. Put the corals you'll be fragging in a bin and keep a clean water bin for the frags so you don't need to run back and forth to your tank.
Prepped working surface
Coral holding / rinsing bin
Getting Ready to Cut:
Lay out your rock and try to determine where you want to make your cuts. Be aware that when the rock breaks, it might not break exactly where you want, but with a little practice, you can usually get it close.
Getting ready to make cuts
Starting your cut:
PUT ON SAFETY GOGGLES NOW
This is especially important if fragging zoanthids, as they contain a palytoxin strong enough even in small doses to kill a human. In addition, use gloves if you have any open cuts, hangnails, etc.
This is where it gets tricky... or fun depending on how you look at it. Turn the rotary tool on low speed. (After a little practice, high speed works better but you should start slow to avoid doing damage to the coral) Begin making your cut, being careful to keep the rotary tool straight to avoid snapping the cutting disk. On a thin rock, you may be able to go right through, but on a larger rock, you'll want a score line all the way around the area you're cutting.
Beginning to cut
Scoring the side
All the way around
When you start doing this it will probably take you awhile to go around so make sure you dip the coral into the holding bucket often to keep it wet. This will also help rinse off any rubble on the rock and let you see what you're doing.
Finishing the cut:
Once you've got a score line you'll need to finish the cut. Use a chisel or flathead screwdriver and get in into the cut you just made. Depending on the thickness of the rock, you may need to hit the rock in multiple places. Tap it with the hammer, move down the line a bit and tap some more. After you do this a few times you'll get a better feel for this.
Starting to chisel the rock
Going around the score line
Cleaning Up Loose Ends:
With zoas and other corals that form a mat on the rock, you may need to cut the mat once the rock is broken. A razor blade or scalpel works best for this. Continue wearing your goggles here and try not to cut through any of the polyps, just cut the mat slowly.
Cutting the mat
The Frags:
The whole process should only take about 2-3 minutes with a little practice, but you can go slow as long as you keep the coral wet. You should get a perfect split almost every time once you get good.
The finished product
Rinse the frags in the holding bucket again, (this way all of the cloudy water is in one place) then place them in your frag holding container and keep fragging until you're done.
Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any questions.
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