DON'T MESS WITH THESE CORAL HEADS ! You'll be damaging the reef, and that's baaaaaaad. There's better stuff on the sandy bottom, and it's happily free of moral dilemmas, collection wise.

Philosophy
It is irresponsible to interfere with coral that is already safely anchored and growing on a reef. Nobody can argue with this statement, as removal of any part of an anchored colony is direct damage to that colony and the entire reef it is part of. However, there is a source of coral samples that I and others believe can be morally tapped.

Shallow, sandy areas between patch reefs are often littered with still-living fragments of coral. These have been broken by wave action or other events, and have, I feel, little chance of survival. They are ground up by tumbling in similar debris to become beach sand.

Such fragments are typically from branching corals, which as a group happily exhibit some of the fastest growth rates among all coral species. This growth rate is there precisely because they need to compensate for regular breakage, which is also a method for dispersing baby colonies and help propagate a branching species in the wild.

Okay, hold on. I know what I just said. If fragmentation is one vehicle for natural propagation, wouldn't the collection of such fragments interfere with a coral species' rate of colonization?

The answer is yes if you select loose fragments that are large enough or situated well enough to have a fair chance of survival. Yes also if you collect a truckload. You are morally obligated to get only a few of the most mortally fragmented/located pieces you can get your hands on. In the sanctuary of your reef tank or grow-out basin, even the tiniest coral frags can outgrow their brethren in the wild. Moral issues somewhat settled, we can discuss how you go about safely collecting and transporting specimen frags.

Know where to collect. I collect at Ligpo Island because it's safe, fun, cheap and easy to get to.

Know what to bring. Depending on the time of year, the tide will decide for you if you need to bring snorkel gear. If the tide is really low (around December in Ligpo, with the waves very calm but colder) you can just carefully wade out on the sandy areas between coral heads.

Translucent tupperware with lids is a standard choice for holding specimens. Small specimen containers will also force you to get small frags. These plastic containers are all to be packed up in a styropor ice-box. You will also need one or two large mineral water bottles (you will probably bring water on the trip anyway). A bag made of mesh or netting is very useful for lugging the tupper while you collect.

Gear up! Clockwise from upper left: 1) Styropor ice box w/ handle 2) Large Mineral water bottle 3) Snorkel gear (Flot. Vest, Mask, Snorkel, Fins) 4) Tupperware specimen containers (not pictured, but very useful: a netting bag for holding all your specimen containers while you snorkel or wade)

Once your at the water's edge, you should ahve your collecting gear on. snorkel gear if you're swimming, or good beach footwear if you're wading. You should have the netting bag tied to you waist, with the specimen containers inside. Don't go out alone. always have company with, or watching over you.

I don't mean just not collecting or fragmenting them. I mean don't even touch them. If you condition yourself not to, then you will initiate contact only in an emergency (like when you're in real danger of injury)

The best situation is to snorkel in water shallow enough to wade in. You minimize disturbance to the bottom, and can stand up when you need to, after checking the bottom for anything you might trample. I wear beach sandals INSIDE my fins, for just such a maneuver.

It's best to restrict yourself to a few pieces (maybe a dozen to twenty small frags at most ). If you come home with too many, you may not have the space or resources to keep them all happy and thriving.

However, you have to keep the containers away from direct or strong light. If exposed to strong light, the containers may heat up to fatal levels, and even if not, increased light means increased metabolic rate and increased respiratory waste production.
I sometimes include a small bit of rubble (live rock, if you will) from the sea in the containers to help process waste products from the collected specimens.

And then here's the trick. At the beach, or en route, get ahold of a few chips of ice to toss into the ice box. Keeping temperatures down (without freezing the specimens, mind you) will lower transportation mortality. I use roughly two ice chips I can get my fist around for the size of icebox pictured above.

Don't keep opening the box. You'll allow heat in. Only if there's a considerable delay in getting to 'home base' (anything over five hours is dicey) should you do a water change. Don't make a mess, and add ice if you have to.

Equalizing temperature, salinity and other parameters between the specimen container water and the water in your holding tank is important. On top of that, there's all that mucus your frags MAY have accumulated during the trip, which need to be shaken off.
If you'd been swishing and rinsing the frags religiously at the beach, then the frags would probably have gotten tired of secreting it by the time of transport and of arrival at your home.

There. Provided that the tank conditions are acceptable, and all the foregoing concerns were addressed, you frags should be safely in sanctuary.