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Securing Acroporas


PaulS

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I'm soliciting suggestions on how to best secure an acropora I picked up this evening. It's about 6" x 4" x 4" if the dimensions help. Any suggestions? Recommendations on the type of epoxy or glue?

 

Thanks for the help!

PaulS

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I'm soliciting suggestions on how to best secure an acropora I picked up this evening. It's about 6" x 4" x 4" if the dimensions help. Any suggestions? Recommendations on the type of epoxy or glue?

 

Thanks for the help!

PaulS

 

Paul,

 

First thing is the acclimate the acro in your tank for about a week to make sure it adjusts to the new tank conditions especially important if its a freshly cut frag.

 

If you want to secure the acro using a branch which is covered with flesh - use superglue, for super glue gel to secure a larger frag well you need to have a good mounting hole. I mount using a large piece of rubble that I drill a sufficiently sized hole maybe a 1/8-1/4 of an inch deep.

 

If there is a branch that is dead (eg not covered with flesh), you can use reef epoxy using the same method on the dead area - also depending on your water volume watch the amount of epoxy used since some skimmers will not like the chemical residue that epxoy gives off.

 

After the coral is mounted watch to see if you get STN / RTN starting at the mount point, especially important for wild frags of tables, etc. Another good idea is that if the mount point is not level to snip it slightly so thats its level after the coral is acclimated to get a good flat base to mount to the rubble hole.

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if its 6 inchs tall and 4 inch wide by another 4 inchs thats a good size colony for a nano reef

is it a cut frag or is it mounted on a little rock at the base.

if it is mounted at the base just pull out the rock you want to mount it too

dry the spot to glue well with paper towels

dry the base of the coral well with paper towels as well

use thick cyanocrylate glue or super glue gel ( not too much less is usually better)

hold in place in for about a minute or use somehting to prop the coral on the rock for the mintue for the glue to set.

 

but imo if it is that big just wedge it in a crevice

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Marineland 2-Part "Hold Fast" Epoxy Puddy works best for SPS IME. It's not sticky, it's more puddy/playdogh like. Verry easy to use, fully hardens in one hour, and it's strong enough to hold it inplace while it cures. It can be applied underwater.

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Melbourne, Travis and Mattie:

These are excellent suggestions. Thank you!

 

When I saw the acro at the LFS, it was non-mounted and in one of their display tanks. They had basically put it in a crevice, as Mattie mentioned.

 

I'll probably have to let the acro sit for the next few days as although I did a basic acclimatization (floated the bag, added 1/3 cup of tank water every 5 minutes for 20 minutes), I haven't let it really adjust to the tank. As Mattie suggested, it's sitting in a crevice right now. Once done, I'll try either the cyanoacrylate gel or the Marinelad glue. I'm not pleased with the Two Little Fishs epoxy since, like Melbourne noted, it drives my protein skimmer crazy for several days. The curing process doesn't seem to bother the tank inhabitants but I've got to wonder about the chemicals released into my tank.

 

As an aside, what tank setups are you three using to maintain your acros? Acros are new to me so any information thrown my way would be appreciated.

 

I've got mine in a 40G with 192W of PCs (one daylight, one actinic bulb), a sump containing a AquaC Urchin Pro, another 15 lbs of LR rubble, chaetomorpha and a bag of Purigen and Phosban for good measure. The tank itself contains about 30-40lbs of live rock and the following corals: hammer, frogspawn, montipora, various polyps/leathers/toadstools, zooanthids, open brain and two types of xenias. There's also the requisite giant clam and cleaner crew. Tank parameters: 75 degree F, 1.024SG, 8.2PH, 8dKH, 3.0ALK, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, <1.0 Nitrate, 0 Phosphate and 450ppm Calcium. The thank has been running for about three plus years.

 

I figured if I could manage a montipora, hammer, and frogspawn, I could manage an acro.

 

Let me know what you folks do! I'd appreciate the advice!

 

Thanks

PaulS

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as for the 2 fishey 2 part epoxy' it is totally safe!

its basically plumber's expoxy which is safe for drinking water and is non toxic. the effect that it has on the skimmer should only last about an hour or 2 at the max

for the epoxy use plenty but not too much and smash down in a good spot, it starts to cure fast.

 

NOW are you ready this is what i do which i do not really recomend. but

i get several jugs of water and drain the tank low enough to glue the large acro piece down using the cyanocrylate thick hobby glue. and then fill the tank back up.

i have mounted some corals in some spots which were to difficult to epoxy or the epoxy wouldn't hold.

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that's actualy a kinda good idea mattie but sounds like too much work for me...LOL...

 

I just use super glue gell...I hav'nt had much luck with getting the 2 part epoxy to stick but the super glue works every time...

 

as for keepin the acro well since your runnig PC's keep it high in the tank give it good to lots of flow and keep it way away from your leathers...and oh yea keep up on water conditions...the only thing you might want to consider if you get into SPS a little more is to loose the PC's and get something a little "better" ...

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as for the 2 fishey 2 part epoxy' it is totally safe!

its basically plumber's expoxy which is safe for drinking water and is non toxic. the effect that it has on the skimmer should only last about an hour or 2 at the max

for the epoxy use plenty but not too much and smash down in a good spot, it starts to cure fast.

 

NOW are you ready this is what i do which i do not really recomend. but

i get several jugs of water and drain the tank low enough to glue the large acro piece down using the cyanocrylate thick hobby glue. and then fill the tank back up.

i have mounted some corals in some spots which were to difficult to epoxy or the epoxy wouldn't hold.

 

Mattie - that's an interesting idea. I was trying to figure out a way to epoxy the frags in place on some of my larger pieces of LR without having to remove the LR (which, at least in this case, is pretty large).

 

that's actualy a kinda good idea mattie but sounds like too much work for me...LOL...

 

I just use super glue gell...I hav'nt had much luck with getting the 2 part epoxy to stick but the super glue works every time...

 

as for keepin the acro well since your runnig PC's keep it high in the tank give it good to lots of flow and keep it way away from your leathers...and oh yea keep up on water conditions...the only thing you might want to consider if you get into SPS a little more is to loose the PC's and get something a little "better" ...

 

Thanks, dhoffroad! The Wife might object at me getting mh's but we'll see. I've got an existing mh pendant (300w) which needs a new bulb as it was originally for a Amazon Plant tank that I was using for contests so the wavelength is wrong - that and it's old. Right now it's sitting in the closet collecting dust.

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