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Anchoring Coral Fragments
There are three things you need for this critical task of coral propagation:
1. Anchor bases
2. Coral fragments
3. Stabilising media/Adhesive

The coral fragments, or frags, should be chosen for shape and size. They can theoretically be as small as is needed to contain at least one polyp, ..but you don't want to wait two years for the propagated new colony to attain substantial size!
Stylophora spp.
coral are what this webpage devotes propagation discussion to (for now at least), and for this species of coral, a 2.0 cm to 5.0 cm long branch is more than satisfactory. Shape-wise, the more protuberances developing on the branch, the better.

The anchor base can be a piece of live rock, beach stone, or pre-cast concrete plugs. The base must be stable and heavy enough, to keep the mounted frag from tipping over, and non-toxic to the frag. Coral will try to grow onto almost any relatively clean surface it comes into contact with.
However, the contact must be stable and prolonged. Under ideal conditions, I've had Stylophora coral grow firmly over a contact surface within one and a half days! To give a frag a decent chance to latch onto its base, aquarists have used drilled or precast slots in the base to receive the frags, and/or plastic pins, rubber bands, elastomerics and cyanoacrylate glue, the last of which is the option dealt with here.
"Super" glue was actually developed decades ago as a kind of instant suture for use on the battlefield, and has proven its worth in all sorts of live-tissue gluing jobs: coral propagation definitely included.

 

A newly-anchored coral stub in a pre-cast cement base,
flanked by two older colonies anchored to drilled pieces of
beach stone. The top colony, a different species from the other two, was very branchy to begin with, and has grown moderately
in the two months since anchoring;
the bottom colony was originally just a thick, unbranched frag anchored horizontally. The white tips of its branches attest to its
rapid growth: 0.4 sq.cm. per week, over one month.

Sea urchins (Diadema sp.) keep the basin, and most notably
the beach-stone bases, mostly free of algae!
This diadema is a baby, about 2 inches across, spines included.
It's elders can have spine-included spans of well over 60 cm.!

 

     
Preparing the Anchor Base(s)
  Bases of live or inert rock will need little discussion beyond the already-treated topics of weight, stability, and non-toxicity. Live rock DOES need to be as free of algae or other living material as possible AT THE POINT OF CONTACT with the coral frag.
Anyway, for precast cement plugs, a plastic eggtray is used as a mold. Short sections cut from a hot-glue stick are affixed upright to the bottoms of the egg-sockets with a dab of melted wax. These provide the cast with peg holes to stick frags into. Once the cement is mixed and poured in, you wait for them it to cure. The glue sticks are easy to pull out of the hard cement cast: just remember to leave enough length of glue stick to grab onto when you cut them in the first place.
The dry plugs are popped free, the glue stick sections yanked out, and the plugs soaked in a neutralizing bath of fresh water (slight acidity will help) for a day or two.
     
Attaching The Frags
There's two ways to anchor a frag, orientation-wise: vertically and horizontally.
I use vertical anchoring when the frag is on the smallish end of the size scale. The physical lock provided by the peg hole of the base is made full use of.
On the other hand, horizontal anchoring provides a larger area of attachment to the base, and is ideal for coral frags possessing larger size and numerous budding branches.

You need to take your relatively dry bases, and set them down on some stable, clean work surface. Your frags should be sitting in saltwater, and your cyanoacrylate (CA) glue should be ready to go. A gel-type CA glue dries more slowly, giving you a few extra moments to work the contact about; and it furthermore doesn't run or spread out on its own like non-gel CA glue.

 


The frags in the saltwater basin;
the bases, and the superglue on a board above.

Anchoring frags is easy and fun.
The challenge is in the weeks ahead!

  First, study each frag and how it would best be anchored. If need be, you can break up a frag further. Pick a frag up out of the water, apply glue to the base and/or to the frag at the point of contact, and without delay, gently press base and frag together.
Let the assembled colony sit out of the water a few moments (I give it ten seconds) to let the glue 'skin' a bit. Return the assembled colony to the second tray of saltwater. The glue may whiten on contact with the water, --this is normal and inconsequential.

For a vertical anchor, I emphasize application of glue to the frag's tip AND the base socket. You're fairly sure of the contact point, and so can commit the glue with confidence. For horizontal anchoring, I apply glue to the base only, and maneuver the frag to sit on the glue.
As soon as possible, put all mounted coral into their grow-out basins, and let them grow!