Superglue technique...

[windwaterwaves]

Ok, I am new to the reef environment. I have a 75 gallon that I have converted from a bleach/fish only tank. A monster lionfish, a clown, and a naso tang.

I purchased some softies - dendronepthya, scleronepthya, some zoo's, a couple of mushrooms, and now a horn coral and moon coral.

My problem is, I suck trying to superglue things, usually my fingers are covered, but nothing sticks, i killed my sponge with it, and arranging things is a pain. So my question to all of you is, what is the best way to use this stuff?

 

[returnofsid]

Soft corals don't glue very well as they slime up too much for the glue to work. Superglue works great with hard corals (SPS)

With soft corals, there's several techniques that work well, depending on your coral and your circumstances. With corals that have a stock, like Xenia, Kenya Tree etc, I usually push a toothpick through the stock and then poke the toothpick tight into a hole in the live rock. Once the coral attaches, I remove the toothpick. Another option is to wedge the coral frag between a couple pieces of live rock rubble until it attaches to one. Other people have actually used nylon fishing line and sewed or tied the coral to rock, or used rubber bands. Just don't do so very tightly or it'll just cut the coral in half. Other people have used "bridal veil" and netted the coral around the rock until it attaches. Still others have used shot glasses with a little sand and rubble in it. Place the coral in the glass in an area where the flow won't blow it out of the glass. After it attaches, just place it where you want it.

 

[roscoe]

Are you using reg. super glue or the gel based super glue. Their is a BIG difference.

 

[surf_buddy]

Soft corals don't glue very well as they slime up too much for the glue to work. Superglue works great with hard corals (SPS)

With soft corals, there's several techniques that work well, depending on your coral and your circumstances. With corals that have a stock, like Xenia, Kenya Tree etc, I usually push a toothpick through the stock and then poke the toothpick tight into a hole in the live rock. Once the coral attaches, I remove the toothpick. Another option is to wedge the coral frag between a couple pieces of live rock rubble until it attaches to one. Other people have actually used nylon fishing line and sewed or tied the coral to rock, or used rubber bands. Just don't do so very tightly or it'll just cut the coral in half. Other people have used "bridal veil" and netted the coral around the rock until it attaches. Still others have used shot glasses with a little sand and rubble in it. Place the coral in the glass in an area where the flow won't blow it out of the glass. After it attaches, just place it where you want it.

I've had sucess with small rubble rock in a shallow plastic food container with a mesh vail over the top. However I have a really small ricordia that is not staying put so I'm going to use the shotglass technique... it's the first I've heard of this. Thanks!

 

[windwaterwaves]

I need help with the superglue management... I received a tube of Sally Jo's reef glue which is superglue liquid. If you put it on a plug it sticks fine but as soon as it hits the water it skims over and won't stick to anything, i'm afraid to put the whole tube underwater, and if I put it on my finger.. well you can see this is a bad horror movie.. So what do you do? I'm mostly interested in rock to rock gluing.

 

[krisfal]

The technique I was taught was to clean the area on the rock in your tank with a small brush and then put a small amount of super glue gel on your finger and smear it on the rock area you just cleaned, really squish it down into the rock (the super glue will peel right off of your finger within a couple of hours) and then dab the piece you are gluing (frag or rubble) on a rag to dry it somewhat and then put a good size glob of glue on it and then stick it to the area where you smeared the glue, hold for about 1/2 - 1 minute. This works well for me about 95% of the time, occasionally I will have a piece come loose and will have to glue it again.

I usually use my pinky finger to smear the glue so that I can avoid touching the coral with the finger with glue on it.

Hope this helps.

 

[Skimmy]

as everyone has mentioned, it is imperative to use the gel for ease of use, after you get good you might be able to use the "honey" glue that has a thinner consistancy. either one you use, store it in the freezer so it gets cold and moves even slower.

1. if not already wet, wet both surfaces you wish to glue.
2. apply glue to both surfaces, a smaller amount than you think is probably sufficent.
3. twist the coral/plug/rock back and forth on the spot with glue while also lifting up and then pushing down. you will see the glue get stringy and white after a few seconds.
4. once the glue begines to thicken, and the 2 surfaces get "sticky", wait another couple seconds then push it down as hard as you can.
5. enjoy!

 

[Sascha D]

One thing about using glue on your softies is that it kills the flesh it comes in contact with. Everytime I use a rubberband, it cuts into the coral and ruins my frag. The best method I've used is to just let it attach itself. Drop your frag into a pile of snail shells or small rocks. It should attach in a few days, then you can move a little rock wherever you want instead of a larger piece of rubble. I always putty the snail shell into a LR hole.