The Best Coral Frag Plugs

Coral fragging and propagation is an awesome side benefit to having a reef tank at home. Coral propagation involves cutting a piece of an existing coral so that it can grow out into its individual animal. The standard process involves cutting a piece of a mother colony, gluing it to a frag plug, and then growing the frag on a frag rack, in a frag tank, or another location in the tank. Fragging corals is fun and actually can be a form of currency in the hobby where there might be a market for specific frags for you to trade or even sell for cash to help sustain a pricey hobby. Having the right frag plug for fragging and propagation can make a big difference in a successful frag endeavor. 

So what are the best frag plugs? The best frag plugs will depend on what goal you are trying to accomplish with your frags. If you are looking to grow out a large coral colony or you have a branching type of coral you might want to use a large disc for stability. If you want to save space and maybe have many frags of small zoa frags the smallest plugs would suffice. If you want something to look natural, live rock rubble might well be the choice. Read on to learn about frag plugs and some of the different frag plugs that are available on the market.  

What is a Frag Plug?

Frag plugs are aquarium accessories that are used to stabilize pieces of live coral. The most common type of frag plug has a round base that the coral is glued on to and post below the head that can be stuck into a frag rack, egg crate, or into live rock. 

Though round-headed frag plugs are the most common, these days there are many different shapes and sizes of frag plugs including discs, tiles, live rocks, and cones.   

What are Frag Plugs Made of?

There are many materials that frag plugs are made of, with the two most common materials being sand and ceramics. Sand frag plugs are often made of aragonite sand, common sand found in the ocean and reef tanks, and a bonding agent like cement. It is often recommended to cure or at least rinse sand-type frag plugs before use. In my experience, if you buy a sand frag plug from a reputable source they can be immediately placed in the aquarium without issue. Sand frag plugs are affordable and easy to cut with frag tools if, for instance, you want to remove the post of the plug.  

Ceramic frag plugs are very similar to how pottery is made in that they are fired to high temperatures. Firing the plugs at a high temperature helps make the plugs inert so that they can be placed directly into your tank without issue. The firing process also makes the plugs stronger and harder to cut.  

Another common way to mount coral is to use live rock rubble. Live rock rubble is simply a small piece of live or dry live rock to mount your coral onto. Live rock ruble can be natural or manmade and is usually the best choice for a clean look when adding frags into your tank.

There are other less common materials out there including plastic, acrylic, magnetic plugs, and even clamshells can make good frag mounts.   

What Type of Frag Plugs Should I Consider?

The right frag plug for you will come down to a few factors for consideration. Some of the most common factors include price, space utilization, and appropriate size for the coral. The following information will address many of the factors when picking the right frag plug for you.

Here is a chart outlining some of the best frag plugs out there. Click the links to get more information on each frag plug.

Frag Plug	Type	Material	Post	Crown	Height
Ocean Wonders Frags
Aragonite Coral Frag Plugs	Circular	Aragonite	Yes	3/4″ – 1 3/8″	7/16″
Aragonite Coral Frag Disks	Disk	Aragonite	No	1 1/4″ – 3″	5/16″
Aragonite Coral Frag Tiles	Tile	Aragonite	No	1 1/4″ – 3″	5/16″
Aragonite Coral Frag HexaDisks	Hexagon	Aragonite	No	1 1/4″	5/16″
Coral Frag Rocks	Rock	Aragonite	No	1 1/2″ x 2″	1″
Ceramic Coral Frag Plugs	Circular	Ceramic	Yes	3/4″ – 1 3/8″	7/16″
Ceramic Coral Frag Disks	Disk	Ceramic	No	1 1/4″ – 3″	5/16″
Ceramic Coral Frag Tiles	Tile	Ceramic	No	1 1/4″ – 3″	5/16″
Ceramic Coral Frag HexaDisks	Hexagon	Ceramic	No	1 1/4″	5/16″
Brightwell Aquatics Frags
Hemixspheres Coral Frag Mounts	Sphere	Aragonite	No	3″	–
Hexidiscs Coral Frag Mounts	Disk	Aragonite	No	1 1/2″	–
Clam Hammock	Clam	Aragonite	No	3 1/4″ x 2″	–
Two Little Fishies Rubble Rock
Little Feet Flat Limestone Rock	Rock	Limestone	No	Varies	Varies
LittleRox Limestone Rubble Rock	Rock	Limestone	No	Varies	Varies
ReefSmart Frags
ReefSmart Aquadome Frag Mounts	Dome	Aragonite	No	1 1/2″	3/4″

The Best Overall Go To Frag Plug

Oceans Wonders Large Aragonite Coral Frag Plugs 

My favorite frag plug is the Large Aragonite Coral frag plug by Oceans Wonders. These are my go-to all-rounders for the fragging of most coral types and sizes. These frag plugs are the sand variety and have a 1 and 1/8” crown and are 1” tall. 

I house most of my coral frags in a 50-gallon low boy frag tank. On the bottom of my frag tank is black egg crate. These plugs fit perfectly into egg crate. These plugs are a great size for growing out and stability. Probably the differentiator for me as a budget where I can reefer is the price. You can find these frag plugs available in different quantities and are usually around the best comparative price for frag plugs. With these being sand plugs, I’ve never had any issues with adding them directly to my tanks.

The Best Frag Plugs for Growing Out Large Colonies

Ocean Wonders 3” Frag Disks and Tiles

For growing out large colonies of coral especially if they have a wide base or branch outward, you need a large surface area for stability. Ocean Wonders offerings are again another great value for this purpose. Ocean wonders offer very large 3” disks or tiles for large coral grow out. The 3” of the surface area provides great stability to hold up your coral colonies if you are trying to grow them out. I prefer the square tiles as you aren’t wasting any space having the ability to butt them up to one another.  

The Best Frag Plugs for a Natural Look

DIY Live Rock Rubble 

DIY Live Rock Rubble is probably the easiest and cheapest way to achieve a natural look when mounting your corals in your aquarium. To achieve this all you need is a hammer and some extra dry live rock. If you’re like me you probably have some extra live rock lying around that can be used. If you don’t have any available, dry rock can usually be found at your local fish store or online. Next, you’ll need a way to chip away pieces of the rock. 

Any hammer will do, but a masonry stone hammer does the job well. You’ll want to use the hammer to chip small pieces away from the rock to get a nice ideal piece for the coral you want to mount. Don’t forget to use eye protection when making rubble from dry rock. You’ll find quite a lot of acceptable pieces can be made from a regular-sized dry rock.

If chipping away at dry rock isn’t your thing here are some options that can be purchased directly.

Best Multipurpose Frag Plugs

Brightwell Aquatics HeXiDiscs Coral Frag Mounts 

You don’t see too many multipurpose frag plugs on the market and Brightwell Aquatics has accomplished that with their HeXiDisc Coral Frag mounts. The way these frag discs are made makes them very porous similar to Marine Pure Blocks. The porous nature of the frag discs increases the available surface area for beneficial bacteria to populate. Beneficial bacteria colonies in the reef tank help the breakdown of waste. The hexagon shape of these discs is also a great space saver as you can connect these to fit more frags on flat surfaces. 

In addition to discs, Brightwell Aquatics offer spheres and clam hammocks.  

Best Frag plugs for small frags or 1-3 Polyps of Zoa’s 

Ocean Wonders Small Ceramic Frag Plugs

These are nice frag plugs for showcasing small corals like 1-3 Zoa polyps. They are available in purple and black colors. The purple frag plugs work well when mounting to existing live rock that is covered in coralline algae. The black frag plugs are awesome for showcasing a nice Zoa specimen in a frag tank or at a frag swap. The corals really pop against Oceans Wonders Ceramic Hawaiian Black Coral Frag Plugs.

Best Space Saving Frag Plugs

Fired Ceramic Square Frag Plugs 

If you have a loaded frag tank and utilize egg crate to hold your frags, square frag plugs are a great option. These frag plugs are one of the few out there that have a square crown and a post base. 

These allow you to place the plugs into egg crate and place them right next to each other to maximize as much space as possible.  

Best Frag Plugs for Stability

Aquadome Frag Mounts

If you have large snails, crabs, or even fast-swimming fish they can inadvertently get knocked off or flipped over repeatedly. I’ve not caught this quick enough in the past and have lost corals due to them getting knocked over by the tank inhabitants. Aquadome frag mounts are excellent options for the stability of corals. 

These dome-shaped frags have a large heavy base that makes it very hard for them to be flipped over. There is also a pool on the top of the mount that makes it easy to pool glue at the top of the mount to attach your coral.  

Those are some of my favorite frag plugs and discs to use for various situations when fragging my coral. I hope you find the perfect frag plug for your needs and enjoy the wonderful hobby of reef keeping and coral propagation.