Frag Attachment

[rollrok18]

I was wondering if anyone had a take on what the best substance is to attach frags. I have tried superglue but I was not very good at it, my sps sucked it up and died once, and I have been using putty and I hate it. I want to attach frags under the water that are all ready attached to reef disc/plugs.

[+dapettit]

Use the superglue gel. We use the stuff from the dollar store. The trick is to apply the glue to the plug/rock and dip in the water for a few seconds. Then attach the frag. We us a bowl and attach the frag to the plug underwater. That's tank water.

Or you can use a two part epoxy (rather mess but effective).

[JimD]

Bypass the superglue and go straight for the IC Gel. Much easier to work with and comes in larger quantities. That along with some two part epoxy is the absolute best for mounting frags, rock, pretty much anything.. Hobby Town usually carries it.

http://www.aquacave.com/ic-gel-insta-cure-cyanoacrelatebr-gel-20gr-1175.html

[DaJMasta]

Cyanoacrelate gel is the same whatever brand or marketing it comes under. I personally prefer not to deal with it under water too much (I find the outer layer solidifies a bit too quickly to mount frags to rock very easily), but it works great mounting to plugs and the like. I've seen at least one fragging guide which tells you to let the gel sit in the air for a minute or so to be quicker to bond to the new frag, but I haven't tried it myself.

As for attaching the frags to rock, epoxy putty seems like the standard all around and does a good job, but I've seen a reef using a pin system which was just great. You mount all the frags with a 1/4" diameter rigid stake out of the bottom and you drill 1/4" holes throughout your rock. It takes some thought beforehand, it's hard just pull out your LR and start drilling, but it made for excellent strength to keep them up, tons of configurations to hold everything in place, and no need to glue anything, so a frag or colony could be moved at a moment's notice.

[labradorduck]

With all the reading about when you change lights, if corals aren't getting along, etc. I feel that it is important to be able to move your frags as needed. Gluing them in place is fine to glue to a plug or small piece of LR.

But then that piece needs to be secured in a less permanent way unless you are sure that you won't be changing things.

I like the pp idea about drilling and a little putty to hold in place. Seems like it would make it easier for fragging as well.