Reef glue question(s)

[MsBeanCtr]

I have to ask this (and you all can scream "NOOB!!" at me).....I have a couple of blue tuxedo urchins that regularly move my corals around. I've managed to situate most of them so that they can't be moved or knocked over, but I'm not able to find a good place to stuff my frogspawn and hammer coral (where they can't be moved/knocked over). I have been thinking of trying some reef glue to secure them. My question is ..... how exactly to I do this? I mean do I actually take the live rock out of the tank (and the coral) and glue it or what? Does anyone think that perhaps epoxy would work better? Remember, I've not had any experience in this, so something idiot-proof would be great.

Suggestions are always appreciated.

TIA!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

What I did with my bubble (RIP) and torch, was to use some of that underwater aquarium epoxy and basically "welded" the stalk of the coral to my rock. I put a blob of epoxy on the rock, stuck the stalk straight into it, then added more epoxy around the base of it to keep it stable side to side. Hard to describe... here's a picture...

I'm not overly happy with how much I goobered on there, but the torch was more top heavy than I realized and you don't have a lot of time before the epoxy sets up hard as a rock on you. (I'm also not thrilled that the epoxy that I bought from my LFS dried white, when the person there said it dried grey! Grrrrr.... Oh well... it's already starting to be covered in coralline algae, so I guess eventually it'll blend in better.)

I "prekneaded" little chunks of the epoxy (you knead it to activate it) and set them nearby, then quickly did all the work underwater. It's not difficult, you just have to work fast and delicately.

I've used super glue gel (cyanoacrylic) underwater for zoanthids, and that works well. But it seems like frogspawn and hammers are too top heavy for superglue to really work - unless you have a good pocket already in your rock that the stalks can go in to, and the super glue will just keep them in the pocket.

PS... The "AquaStik" on this page is what I've found works best. And it dries grey!

http://www.twolittlefishies.com/tlf_prod_access.html?lang_id=1

 

[melosu58]

I would think the epoxy would work better. Super glue gel is good for attaching a soft coral to rock but I think skeleton or rock to rock the epoxy will work better.

 

[Lance M.]

I use an epoxy I dont know exactly what it's called but it's white in the middle and green on the outside and you cut how much you need and mix them together to activate it and then use it in the water. It works really well but just like Kurt's it dries white which can look bad but eventually it'll be covered by coraline so you can't see it, but I would suggest the grey stuff so you dont have to look at this white glob on the rock.

With my torch I was lucky enough to have a rock with a hole in it that it would fit in. Now, about 4 months later, it has grown and wedged itself in there. It was only one head and now it's splitting into two so I'm happy with it.

 

[MsBeanCtr]

GREAT info--Thank you Kurt for the picture.

My lfs e-mailed last night that they got a new shipment in too.....so, since I'm going there anyway and I have to pass by the new corals, I might as well pick one up so I can try out the epoxy......think that excuse will work?

Thank you all very, very much!

 

[Jarred Darque]

Thankyou for this thread, I need to set somestuff in place as well, like ym hammer, and two VERY small rocks of zooanthids, one orange one green, and a hermit crab shell covered in green start polyps