Attaching corals/frags underwater?

[jnfallon]

Hi all,

I need to find a good way to epoxy/glue/cement underwater. I'm trying to attach corals to large rocks that cannot be removed. Many of the sites are vertical or nearly so.

I've tried superglue gel, and deltec epoxy stick, and neither maintains any "stickiness" underwater, so the adhesion is minimal - first bump by a turbo snail and they fall off.

Anyone have any suggestions/experience?

[SDguy]

Vertical surfaces might be tough. The best combo I found is this. Aquamend from Home Depot. Super glue gel. Take a small bit of the epoxy. Knead it together per instructions. Remove coral from water. Pat base dry using paper towel. Add super glue gel to one side of kneaded epoxy ball. Squish dry coral base into this glue/epoxy. Then add glue gel to the opposite side. When you submerge this, a skin will form around the gel. Squish this against the rock. Hold in place for 10 seconds WITHOUT moving at all.

hth

[Paliya]

I've attached zoanthids to a nearly vertical surface. It took a few tries, but it's just about holding it on the rock for a long period of time and being rather firm. I used krazyglue gel that I got from target. It definitely will get that 'skin' almost immediately as SDguy mentions, but just squish it down and press harder than you think you should (but within reason, obviously). I also used a generous amount of glue on the underside of the 'mat' of the zoanthid colony.

So far they've stayed put. I'd say try the krazyglue gel again, and use more and press harder and longer.

[Avi]

I've mounted coral on a vertical ssetting many times in much the same way as described by SD and p-deezy. I find, though that in addition to using the super glue gel, a bigger glob of the epoxy makes the application much more effective and the chances for permanent success much greater. I've also found that pushing that generous amount of the epoxy into a good sized crevice, if possible but not absolutely essential, will go a long way in increasing the likelihood of success. And, one more thing.....once you have the coral mounted with the gel on the generous sized glob of epoxy, push it onto the place on the rockwork where you want it mounted and hold it in place for a good amount of time...maybe even five minutes or so....until the exoxy has hardened and no longer is soft enough to sag with gravity due to the weight of the entire mounting.

Here are some pics that might give you more of an idea....This one is of a Blastomussa Wellsii that shows the epoxy base that you can see in the white at its base, very shortly after it was mounted:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v58/Avrumeleh/BlastomussaWellsi811053546.jpg

This pic shows the same one along with some other Blastos that I mounted in the same area of the rockwork a short time later...Maybe a couple of months:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v58/Avrumeleh/Blastomussa11705LR4224.jpg

Here are the same ones after some time:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v58/Avrumeleh/Blastomussas2306LR0482.jpg

And...here they are now with the recent addition of a bluish-green one, also mounted vertically:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v58/Avrumeleh/Blastomussa103064040forbucket.jpg

[SDguy]

Oh, and make sure your live rock surface is free of detritus and/or algae.

[jnfallon]

Thanks guys, off to Home Depot for supplies.

SDguy, any ideas for how to make the surface clean? toothbrush maybe? (wife's , lol) ANy other tips?

[Avi]

You can use a toothbrush. I often use the kind of thicker plastic bristle brush they sell at Home Depot in the paint department.

[rbp 4 135]

if you get one of those round brushes used for cleaning intake tubes on hob filters that will work well. i have also used toothbrushes to much success

[SDguy]

I keep like 5 old toothbrushes handy for this sort of stuff, along with skimmer cleaning and the like.