Reef Safe Glue

[danelam]

Need some glue to stick my corals. Anyone who lives or works in Manhattan have some they'd want to sell?

Thanks

 

[alistair]

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/house-fish/35948-frag-glue.html

 

[fritz]

Any and all "super glue gel" forms will work as well. I've used all of them, from the dollar store kind to the 50 pack that Lowes has sometimes they all work. It's safe as well, I've used as much as 5 or 6 tubes full at one time in my reef without any negative effects.

If you can find IC gel it's a better price but in a pinch any kind of super glue gel will work just fine.

Make sure you buy the "gel" as the liquid won't do anything.

 

[danelam]

can you work with it in the water fritz?

 

[fritz]

Sure, it's the same stuff as IC Gel.
I wouldn't squeeze it under water but I wouldn't do that with IC Gel either.
I put a dollop onto the coral, a nice round dollop. I then pull out a piece of Live Rock or rubble or whatever. I place the coral, dollop first, onto the rock. I move it around a little bit so that there is really good contact/connection between the glue and coral/rock. I wait 30 or so seconds. I then dunk it gently underwater. This causes the glue to get a "skin" or harden slightly. I then leave it dry for another minute or two to harden some more and then place it in the tank.

Gravity works better than you holding it with your hand. People shake gravity doesn't.

 

[danelam]

oh cool...so there's not a glue that you can actually use to do the glueing underwater?

 

[fritz]

I'm not familiar with any glue that you would do underwater. I've used epoxy of all different types and every last type of super glue gel. Any reason why you want to do the whole process under water?

 

[danelam]

cos I have big pieces of rock I want to attach corals to and if I take the rock out it will likely topple the aquascaping

 

[Killerdrgn]

You can use super glue gel underwater but you have to have the plastic applicator tip on. Hold the coral/live rock right next to the tip and then squeeze the tube and then press the coral down, almost simultaneously. basically the trick is to already have the coral and live rock just a few millimeters (1- 1.5) and then shoot the glue in between which will make it create a skin of superglue and a bubble of wet superglue in the middle and then the action of the coral pressed into the live rock will pierce the bubble and cause the glue to bond to both the rock and coral and dry simultaneously. it will also cause a small trail of superglue which you can remove later when it totally hardens.

 

[danelam]

and i can just use regular superglue for this?

 

[Killerdrgn]

No always needs to be superglue gel, doesn't matter which brand though.

 

[danelam]

so just any superglue gel from a hardware store?

 

[emmanuel]

in my opinion permatek works best
I glue stuff underwater when its not possible to do above water by putting glue on the frag (above water) and then glue on my finger , I then rub the glue from my finger onto the rock under water were the glue from the frag will make contact ( I kinda smear it on the rock with my finger) When I mate the frag to the smeared glue I use a circular motion and then hold it in place for a minute or two

 

[danelam]

thanks emmanuel...so permatek from a hardware store then? No negative effects on the reef i.e. poisoning?

 

[Killerdrgn]

cyano acrylate (not sure of spelling) solidifies in the presence of saltwater. Just don't cover the entire frag with the stuff and you should be fine. Oh and don't use it directly on fleshy parts, i.e. don't glue ricordia, anenomes, and the like directly to live rock have it attach naturally to a piece of rubble and then glue that to where you want it.
I'm not familiar with the brand but just make sure it only reads cyano acrylate and nothing else.