ORA frag plugs..

[jedimaster1138]

Suck.

Talking about the black plastic ones.

Bought 2 SPS frags tonight at MA ... a Green Digitata and a Stylo. Gorgeous frags, horrible plugs. They don't fit in any of my live rock holes both because of the length and diameter of the plug.

I was trying to cut off the bottom off the digitata plug as I have with ceramic plugs in the past and done so quite easily, but these black plastic ones...yeah they don't cut with pliers. I guess I should get the vice grips out? Or the dremel? Wound up fragging my new green digitata. The piece that broke off is now glued to a piece of rubble, which will look great ... if it lives and I didn't hurt it during the inadvertent frag.

Not sure what to do with the stylo...it's encrusted over the top bulb-ish part of the plug... Should I just frag it at the base (weapon of choice?) and glue it to a piece of rubble and maybe I'll wind up with a second stylo? Or find a crevice, which will be difficult...

What do people do? Do you remove your frags from plugs? ORA or all of them? If so...uh...how.

 

[pecan2phat]

I normally take a dremel with the standard cutting disk and shear off the stem of the plug.

 

[James404]

^^+1 dremel off the bottom is the way to go

 

[budddman]

Someone needs to address this with ORA, i get that its there signature plug but, they are such a pain in the ass and not really reefer friendly. They are harder to cut then the stone ones...even with a dremmel.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Reefs

 

[knugenx]

I usually mix glue and epoxy to hold them down if I can't cut it...eventually the coral will encrust everything.

 

[MIKE NY]

I normally take a dremel with the standard cutting disk and shear off the stem of the plug.

x2..I think they are either a hard rubber or plastic because they don't even really cut ...more like they melt through.

 

[NewfiDog]

If the frag has not grown over the plug yet you can grab the top part with pliers, squeez and the glue will let go and you can mount the frag where you want. Then the other thing is like said cut it they are hard. I hate there plugs.

 

[jedimaster1138]

Someone needs to address this with ORA, i get that its there signature plug but, they are such a pain in the ass and not really reefer friendly. They are harder to cut then the stone ones...even with a dremmel.

Agreed 100% - if it's their signature, and they are bragging about how awesome it is, someone ought to tell them that they are bragging about something that sucks. I searched around some and i haven't seen 1 good statement about the new ORA plugs not written by ORA.

IMO, you really shouldn't have to get the dremel out, and power cut off a plug in order to properly mount a piece of coral that you just spent 50$ + on. At great risk to the health of the coral too if we're talking about power tools on top of time out of the water. I can see having to mess with things if it's a frag from another hobbyist or something...but you'd think that a professional coral grower would sell things ready to use...

Maybe our friends, the vendors on this site who buy from ORA, and I know there are a few, could express that sentiment to ORA on the behalf of this large and learned community of reef keepers. I'd be happy to sign any petition or whatever that's sent down their way.

 

[FMF0331]

INSTEAD OF COMPLAINING HERE ON M.R - I WENT AHEAD AND MADE THE MOVE TO CONTACT THEM . THIS IS THE REPLY I GOT BACK FROM ORA.


Thank you for the email and the feedback. We do understand the plugs are not always the most convenient, but they are one of the primary reasons our farm is able to grow the volume of coral we need. At this point, I haven't heard of any plans to change the plug design, but we are always open to ideas and suggestions.

Cheers,

Alex Pilnick
Sales Representative
Oceans, Reefs & Aquariums
5600 US 1 North
Fort Pierce, FL 34946

 

[jedimaster1138]

Good move contacting them.

We do understand the plugs are not always the most convenient

That's a nice understatement.

At this point, I haven't heard of any plans to change the plug design, but we are always open to ideas and suggestions.

I think until the vendors start complaining to ORA - ie the people spending 10's of k or more a month with them - about how their customers aren't happy with the plugs and aren't buying ORA stuff, ORA won't change anything. But if they get those complaints, and threats of the vendors buying less volume, then maybe they will be motivated to change plugs.

Of course maybe I'm being idealistic. I do that. I was just reading John Adams last night. I also don't exactly how those plugs positively impact ORA's farm as the ORA rep quoted in his reply, so I should shut up.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

they can easily use a diff product that would be easier to cut to make there customers happy. boycott ora until changes are made :biggrin: :Up_to_som

 

[lnevo]

What sick mind came up with these plugs??? Is it a joke or something????

I just moved two of the frags I got from NERAC to normal plugs after mutiple times the frags literally floating off the rack. They don't have enough weight, people can't cut them apparently, they are ugly as hell, and to top it off you cant just pop frags off because theres a well of glue in the middle.

I lost a little bit of my new jf jack o lantern lepto and 1/4" of the base of my jf tricolor but better to have gotten it out of the way now!!! I dont think I'll ever take a frag with one of these things again!!

Glad to get this off my chest.

 

[mbg75]

What's left on the plug will usually regrow into another frag

 

[lnevo]

Thats assuming they don't float off the frag rack and get lost in my tank