(AI generated to illustrate the concept and help visualise the different stages)
Have you ever heard of microfragmentation?
No? let us explain what it is.....
Dr David Vaughan is seen as the pioneer of microfragmentation in coral reef restoration. He found if you take a small fragment of coral (3-5mm) and what happens when you reduce a coral colony down to a very small fragment — particularly the relationship between tissue edge, skeletal growth and the ability of the fragment to rapidly regenerate and grow. The micro frags can grow upto 50 times faster than a colony.
So why don't we see it in the hobby? that's because it's harder to do in a closed loop system. (closed loop is the environment we use) you can also have a semi-open loop where you filter natural sea water and open loop where you pump the water in from the sea, around your systems and back out to the sea.
In 2022, Rob took on the challenge, can he grow a coral frag from 3 polyps?
Taking a microfrag from an acropora in our Red Sea 300XL - 3 polyps, rob Placed it on the frag rack.
This as the coral after 8 weeks:
The system was running on Red Sea Foundation and the perimeters remained stable.
let us know what experience you've had with microfrafmentation