Attaching corals/frags to live rock already in the tank

[Spikewire]

Hey everyone. Here's my question of the day

What do you use to attach frags and larger corals to your live rock? I'm sure one of the better methods would be to remove the rock from the tank and attach outside. I'd prefer not to have to do that as I really don't want to be removing any LR at this point.

I've attached a few frags near the top of my tank and that's gone really well. I used a base of epoxy with a dab of coral gel. Attaching things a bit lower has been a problem as it seems the gel hardens up on contact with the water. Maybe I need to be quicker?

So epoxy? Superglue, Coral gel? Combination?

Thanks

 

[tnwillia]

I glue the frags to rock rubble (out of the tank) at a size I need to set on the rock I want it on. If I need that rubble chunck to stay there I use aquastick or something like it. I got a 5lb bag of dry rock rubble just for doing this as needed. I've never had any luck getting anything to stick when done in the tank.

 

[Mavjoy]

I use aquamend from HD and superglue.

 

[redsea reefer]

this is what I use

 

[Reefmack]

I use a "sandwich" of epoxy putty and superglue Gel. I found out when I first got started that epoxy alone, or supergel alone, doesn't work very well. For LPS and SPS frags, I dry off the bottom of the coral base (or piece of rock that it's on) with paper towel, mix a ball of epoxy putty, put an indentation in the putty, squeeze in a big blob of Superglue gel, and press the base of the coral into the putty and SG Gel. Then I make an indentation in the opposite side of the putty, put in another blob of SG Gel into that, and put it in the tank and slowly press it into place on the rock. After holding a few seconds it hopefully stays there till everything bonds. For corals on rock bases, I do the same thing. The combination of putty/SG Gel seems to work better, and the putty helps to conform to the irregular suface of the rock. It's not 100% guranteed to work every time, but it's the best method I've found.

With branched SPS frags that are large enough, I find it often works better to use a coral clippers to cut it off of a frag plug, and do the above. It's always nice if you have a small hole in the rock to glue/epoxy it into.

Mushrooms with no rock or attached substrate need other methods, as they typically slime themselves loose from Superglue Gel.

 

[lethal]

Interesting thread this one. I would be interested to hear more ideas/opinions.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I always just "wedged" my frags in cracks... my rockscape has lots of them

 

[dmyers557]

I use putty, but that whole putty with superglue idea is worth a shot. Thanks Reefmack.

 

[mbdave]

I glue the frags to rock rubble (out of the tank) at a size I need to set on the rock I want it on. If I need that rubble chunck to stay there I use aquastick or something like it. I got a 5lb bag of dry rock rubble just for doing this as needed. I've never had any luck getting anything to stick when done in the tank.

I agree with this glue to small rock and epoxy in tank.

 

[Reefmack]

I also do what Dave suggested, but I still use the epoxy/SG Gel combo to have a better chance of the epoxy staying where I place it.

 

[BigAl07]

I use a "sandwich" of epoxy putty and superglue Gel. I found out when I first got started that epoxy alone, or supergel alone, doesn't work very well. For LPS and SPS frags, I dry off the bottom of the coral base (or piece of rock that it's on) with paper towel, mix a ball of epoxy putty, put an indentation in the putty, squeeze in a big blob of Superglue gel, and press the base of the coral into the putty and SG Gel. Then I make an indentation in the opposite side of the putty, put in another blob of SG Gel into that, and put it in the tank and slowly press it into place on the rock. After holding a few seconds it hopefully stays there till everything bonds. For corals on rock bases, I do the same thing. The combination of putty/SG Gel seems to work better, and the putty helps to conform to the irregular suface of the rock. It's not 100% guranteed to work every time, but it's the best method I've found.

With branched SPS frags that are large enough, I find it often works better to use a coral clippers to cut it off of a frag plug, and do the above. It's always nice if you have a small hole in the rock to glue/epoxy it into.

Mushrooms with no rock or attached substrate need other methods, as they typically slime themselves loose from Superglue Gel.

Terry this is what I started doing about 6 months or so ago and it's the best method I've found so far. I've only had one frag knocked loose in that time (now when I go home today they'll ALL be knocked loose) due to an overly eager SeaHare LOL!

Excellent advice here

 

[Reefmack]

I agree BigAl. It's not 100% foolproof and a few times I've had to redo a couple, but the combination of epoxy & superglue gel does get a better bond on rock in the tank. I hope that Seahare doesn't give you any unwanted surprises!

 

[BigAl07]

I agree BigAl. It's not 100% foolproof and a few times I've had to redo a couple, but the combination of epoxy & superglue gel does get a better bond on rock in the tank. I hope that Seahare doesn't give you any unwanted surprises!

Thanks Terry. After the first few weeks they (yes there are TWO of them) pretty much learned the tank (I guess) and haven't bothered anything else in the tank. They've been in there a few months now and don't even knock over any of my frags plugs that are loose (just waiting on homes).

 

[Spikewire]

Thanks everyone! There is a lot of great information here and it's been a tremendous help to me and I hope everyone. I used Terry's method last night and mounted a few frag discs. So far so good and I'll keep you up to date. Hopefully this weekend I'll have time to get to all my corals

 

[BigAl07]

.....Hopefully this weekend I'll have time to get to all my corals

 

[Spikewire]

Ouch. I hear ya Al. I'm on it