Make your own frag plugs

Zookeeper · 11 Jan 2008

For those of you that want to frag your coral ,here is a easy way to make some super plugs.

Zookeeper · 11 Jan 2008

I use the polly box that my LFS packs my fish and coral in.Fill it with some clean white sand .The sand should be nice and damp.

Zookeeper · 11 Jan 2008

Choose a bottle top for the first impression.This will form the top of the plug.

mandarinman · 11 Jan 2008

the rest of the story? they do look good so give us the rest of the method please

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

Now print your plugs in the wet sand.If you press deeper then you get a thicker plug so play around a bit to find the right depth.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

People often mount the plugs using this method ,so we need to make a nice stem for our plug ,making sure it will fit through the holes in the plastic grating.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

When I did this the first time I simply used a plastic pen to make the hole for the stem.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

To make sure all my plugs are the same I made this simple tool.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

So now I can produce the plugs much quicker and they are all the same size.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

So now we have our mould.The next step is our cement mix.I use the white cement that the hardware stores sell.

mandarinman · 12 Jan 2008

plug mixture?, ingenious tho

Shaun · 12 Jan 2008

How safe is the cement, I know if you use it to make rock you have to let it cure for 2 to 3 months or something like that.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

I use a 3 part sand one part white cement mix.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

The trick is to make the mix very watery so that it runs to the bottom of our mould.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

All you do now is give them a good soak in a bucket of fresh water.Change the water a few times and the plugs are ready to use.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

There you go ,what more could you ask for in a frag plug.

Mekaeel · 12 Jan 2008

very cool DIY Zookeeper!

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

Well this is the best part.As long as you do not add to much cement to the mix you can snap the head off when your ready to mount the frag in your display tank.

Zookeeper · 12 Jan 2008

In just a few weeks you can not even see the plug any more as the coral encrusts the plug.I feel that the plug gives the coral a very attractive round base.

nakoma · 12 Jan 2008

very nice zookeeper like this and will use it well planing on getting some of this done when i have meoved and gotten my new life sorted

Make your own frag plugs

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