I am planing on fragging my leather so I can have a bit in my nano as well as the big tank. When I cut the piece off can I place it straight into nano or should I put it back in big tank until it has attatched itself to it's bit of rock? If I can put it in nano do I need to acclimatise it first?
My experience with using superglue on leathers has not been the best. When they expand they "break the seal" on the rock they are glued to. I have had good luck simply wedging the piece of coral down in a pile of small rock pieces (in a low flow area) until it attaches in a few days. Or sticking the base in a crevice or hole in a rock where I want it to attach.
Fragging the leather is as easy as slicing it with a razor blade along the polyp(toadstool) or slicing the branch(kenya tree type, finger leather).
Change carbon after fragging to remove any toxins released by the leather from the wound. Allow a minimum of 4 weeks before you disturb the mother colony again.
As far as mounting the frag the best is a loose fitting rubberband that will hold the frag but not cut it into two by being too tight.
I always just put them in a low flow area and stick a tooth pick through their base and break it off. It's not at all toxic or iritating as another poster said they just slide off of super glue. Toothpicks work well on a number of softies.
hth
max
Welcome back Max!
Sacrophyton species of leathers have chemicals that seriously disturb SPS after fragging, hence the carbon regimine. Tanks size, flow, skimmer, ozone all affect these allochemicals. It is much more important in smaller tanks.
