best epoxy for aquascaping? need help

[Deitta]

I am going to be getting a 55 gallon tank very soon and will be moving everyone-thing from a 29 gallon. Many of my live rocks are small, even to rubble size, and I would like to put them together to make more interesting arrangements. I would prefer a product that will cure underwater with the fish if possible. I have never used any of this type of aquarium product but am familiar with many epoxy product for craft use....
What have you used and what was your end result?

 

[tamra&steven]

super glue works great for frags to rocks.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

The "Two Little Fishies" brand works the best that I've found. The gray color isn't as obnoxious as the white, but it all eventually gets covered up with coralline algae anyway. My personal least favorite is the "HoldFast" epoxy... I think from Marineland. Two Little Fishies (as well as D&D and others) also makes a coralline algae colored epoxy (purple/maroon) if you want to avoid the white or gray.

Don't expect the epoxy to act as glue. It won't. But it works great if you build your aquascaping and use bits of the epoxy in key spots to act as a wedge to keep the rocks together. You can also put blobs between the rocks and mush them together and they'll somewhat stick together - or at least they won't slide apart.

For actual glueing, super glue (gel) as mentioned earlier works just fine underwater.

 

[Deitta]

How long does it take for the super glue to cure? Is there a preferred brand? Any craft superglue or a what?
I may end up arranging the rocks with living fish already in the tank and don't want to have a bad chemical reaction and kill the fishies.

 

[Judge]

I was really nervous about putting something like this in my tank but I used Hold fast. It worked great. Kneaded it a few secs pushed it where I wanted, stuck it on the bigger piece and voila' no problems! It was cured within about 30 minutes, under water! I know because I had urchins and Emerald crabs checking out the new kid on the block and they are real bull dozers when they are moving around! Good luck.

 

[mr_X]

i don't know if you have the right size rock to do this with, but i used acrylic rods and drilled holes through the larger pieces of rock, and made "towers" which i built off of. you could even use those plastic chopsticks available at some supermarkets. a masonry bit cuts right through live rock like butter....
drilling-

towers assembled-

finished product-

 

[Ziggy953]

You want to look for Super Glue GEL. IT is thicker then regular super glue and cures under water. If they offer an activator with the glue get it. It will help in the curing time. If you are looking to attach frag plugs to your rock work then the 2 part putty is the best option. I use Deltec Aquascape to attach my corals to the rock work. This is after they have been super glued onto a plug though.

Hope that helps.

 

[Innovator]

Two Little Fishies brand, as Kurt mentioned, is what I recommend for light duty coral attachments. I would not bond liverock to liverock with it: You can use acrylic rods or nylon threaded rods along with Devcon or Z-spar.

 

[slush]

wow thats one beautiful tank

i don't know if you have the right size rock to do this with, but i used acrylic rods and drilled holes through the larger pieces of rock, and made "towers" which i built off of. you could even use those plastic chopsticks available at some supermarkets. a masonry bit cuts right through live rock like butter....
drilling-

towers assembled-

finished product-

 

[leoslizards]

I heard that the regular crazy glue is toxic when wet. You should let it cure completely before you add it to your tank.

 

[cmor1701d]

Crazy glue is used by surgeons to close tissue together, so it is safe to use in your tank. I use superglue type gel and lately I've become a big fan of CorAffix by Two Little Fishies. The long nozzle doesn't dry out, and makes it very easy to get it where you want it. It has a rather slow curing time (several seconds ) so I can glue out of water and re-attach a frag to a plug that it was knocked off.

For gluing rocks together though I would use a 2-part epoxy like Aquastick or the very similar epoxy I saw in the plumbing section of Lowes for half the money.

 

[leoslizards]

I bought a tube of that gray Aquastick but have yet to use it. It was $13

 

[theyoungaquariest]

how do u cure the super glue????

 

[epicfish]

how do u cure the super glue????

It starts to set as soon as it is in contact with moisture.

To glue rocks and frags down, I do the following:


rock
----
superglue layer
----
two part epoxy
----
superglue layer
----
rock


The epoxy does most of the work and the superglue (gel variety) fills in the rest of the gaps.

 

[theyoungaquariest]

So amazing tank!!!