fishbabies Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 lately i have been trying to glue mushrooms to my live rock using superglue. i have found that i can get 1 or 2 cool mushrooms for cheap from my LFS if I buy them on a bulky rock.....5 bucks or so for 2 quarter to dollar coin sized shrooms on a rock as big as a grapefruit. i have run outta space in my 10gal, so i chisel thru the rock right under the disk and then glue the chiselled rock to my lr. problem is, both my lr and the chiselled piece are somewhat fragile.....kinda like a piece of chalk...and the superglue i use (Quicktite) isn't the strongest with those types of bonds. Then, to make matters worse, my shrooms will start to fold as if they are trying to catch the current so that they will be blown off the lr.....if they would just lay flat, they would be fine. days later i end up with shrooms on the sandbed, still attached to their orig rock frag, and a wad of superglue on my lr. so here's my question....do those underwater epoxies..the ones that look like a piece of taffy that you knead to mix the 2 parts....do they work well? do they work in small amounts...say a wad slightly smaller than a pea? ...or do they need much more glue for surface adhesion? are they tacky? ....or is it more like the consistency of silly putty that eventually hardens? maybe i am using my superglue improperly? it is not practical for me to take out my base rock perform the adhesion out of water....but maybe i am using the wrong superglue or maybe there's some trick? any advice would be greatly appreciated :-0 thanks all sad... Link to comment
Crakeur Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 fish, because I'm lazy, I'm going to tell you to search this section for mt glue post. in that thread the best epoxy and the very best super glue are mentioned and I provided a link to the superglue. Link to comment
caja Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 Here you go: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=15670 Link to comment
Crakeur Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 thanks caja. I was too busy working on a fried oyster po'boy and the thing was messy Link to comment
SeaMountain Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 "do those underwater epoxies..the ones that look like a piece of taffy that you knead to mix the 2 parts....do they work well?" They work fine. Just a personal choice in my opinion and depends on what you are gluing together. I find it easier to use superglue gel outside the tank since I can't hold my breath long enough to mix the epoxy parts underwater. "...say a wad slightly smaller than a pea?" Will need to defer to the resident expert on pea sized wads. Crak take this one will ya! "....or is it more like the consistency of silly putty that eventually hardens?" Might as well take that one too Crak... "maybe i am using my superglue improperly? it is not practical for me to take out my base rock perform the adhesion out of water....but maybe i am using the wrong superglue or maybe there's some trick?" No tricks! I use a gel version of superglue and will lightyly brush off the area of LR I want something to adhere to in order to get rid of small particles of stuff which may nterfere with the bonding. A few small drops on the LR and let it skim over quickly. A drop or two on the frag itself, and then set them together and hold for maybe 30 seconds or more. A lot depends upopn how much glue you've used. I'll also shut down the PH's for 5-10 minutes so the piece sets up nicely. The GEL superglue is the one to use. Best of luck to you! Remember, practice makes perfect! Link to comment
Crakeur Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 ok, after checking the thread caja was good enough to link, you purchase those two items. The superglue is used for mounting frags onto rock or plugs. the epoxy is used to mount rock or plugs onto other rock and to hold rock together. the epoxy that ken mentions in that thread is what I use. you simply tear off a piece, knead it until it turns white and then you stick it where you want it to be. it hardens slowly so keep an eye on the things you are mounting as they might shift a little. mounting corals with superglue or cyanoacrylate is simple. hold the coral underwater and leave the cut part exposed. drop a couple of drops of glue on the frag, dip in the water and repeat. Now simply place the coral frag where you want to mount it, hold for a couple of seconds and you are done. for a better description, head to spsfrags.com and check out his mounting instructions. Link to comment
caja Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 Another link: http://www.spsfrags.com/mounting_frags.htm Link to comment
fishbabies Posted August 14, 2003 Author Share Posted August 14, 2003 thanks for your input...i am thinking of moving away from the superglue....works well with my zoo frags tho. with my shrooms i need something that will really really hold. the superglue gel seems to get brittle and degrade....and using gobs of it doesn't make the bond stronger it seems. with the epoxy, i am hoping that a can use a larger wad of glue that will hold much longer. i think the nature of the epoxy putty would make for better adhesion of 2 brittle and jagged pieces...the lr and the piece attached to the shroom. my biggest concern is that if the epoxy has the consistency of silly putty...ie, not really tacky...until it hardens, then it might be a prob. if it is tacky like gum is to hair..that might be better.....if it is tacky like chewing gum on a hot day....then perfect. i just need time for it to harden before the shroom starts to unfurl like a sail on a windy day. what do ya'll think? i looked at that other thread re: glues the other day...thanks for the refresher tho :-)....but couldn't find any comments regarding the workability of the 2 part epoxies... the superglue seems to have an underwater life of 2-3 days... Link to comment
fishbabies Posted August 14, 2003 Author Share Posted August 14, 2003 thanks for the links cajastan ....i looked there too....the netting idea they use most often would be great.....but rather impractical for my rocks. my shrooms also have the abilty to go from the size of a very large coin to the size of a flat thumbtack head....not sure how this would work under netting. bad shrooms bad!!! Link to comment
killrblue Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 For the netting can't you use a filter bag or how about cheese cloth? Link to comment
Crakeur Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 actually, I have found that the epoxy rots out in a short period of time. The stuff I used to use was crumbly and didn't hold well to begin with and, over time, it seemed to release it's hold on the rock. Link to comment
fishbabies Posted August 14, 2003 Author Share Posted August 14, 2003 the broblem with netting for me is that my rocks are big...wink-wink. one is almsot the size of a gallon milk jug....and the other the size of a grapefruit. i think the netting works better on smaller rocks with no crevices. are all the epoxies like that? crumbly? Link to comment
Crakeur Posted August 14, 2003 Share Posted August 14, 2003 not the one in that thread. works great actually Link to comment
fishbabies Posted August 14, 2003 Author Share Posted August 14, 2003 Holdfast over the Aquastick? I think both were mentioned in the thread. or is ther a different epoxy that is better? Link to comment
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