Methodology:
The method I use for fragging the majority of hard corals is primarily the same with the cutting tooling being a Gryphon band saw.
Cooling liquid used is fresh mixed saltwater with enough iodine to color it a light amber. This helps to disinfect cuts as they're made which has shown to greatly increase frag survival.
All corals are stored during cutting in a small bucket holding water taken directly from their home aquarium. This water is used both to keep them wet as well as for rinsing any flesh away from cuts while I'm working on them.
All finished, and rinsed, frags or trimmed colonies are soaked in Brightwell Aquatics Restor dip to insure that minimal flesh is lost.
Both soak buckets are rinsed and replenished between colonies to reduce the risk of interactions between loose flesh of different coral species.
Notes about acropora:
Acropora forms in an endless array of growth patterns depending on species and conditions where grown which makes it a little bit different for each colony you may encounter.
As with all branching corals, I first like to figure out how I can get the most branch off of the base while leaving each frag free of open cut spots. To do this, I begin cutting from the base of a colony and work my way out towards the branching tips.
After all available frags are worked off of the base, I will either cut up the base pieces to be grown into marketable frags or I will keep the entire base for growout purposes.
If there's a specific species you would like to see fragged, leave a comment below.
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