Best way to attach soft corals
 

Hi everyone,

I just got some new soft corals, but my tank has too much current to just let them attach normaly. I was wondering what is the best method to attach these? The epoxy? I was reading about a toothpick method but that doesn't seem too good for me as I would have to take apart my LR to do it.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Chad

Chad, I always used a needle and some mono fishing line. Pierce the bottom, threading the line through and secure to a rock. When attached, cut the line and pull out, carefully.

This works well for leather type corals. I have also used elastic bands for some, but not good for the leather types, as it cuts through them.

Well I went to J&L's and bought this stuff called "Holdfast" .. well its worthless. I could not get it to work at all it just fell off.. nothing would stick to it. Hold fast? I think not.

Chad :evil:

Chad, that's epoxy and you use it for hard corals. It doesn't stick to anything, it just hardens in the cracks you push it into.

Well then I am a bit upset since I specificly asked them if I could use it for Soft corals and they said it would work. When I called they said I had to "build it up around the coral".. Tried it. didn't work. A waste of my money is all I can say. Oh well.. I have lots left for when I want to cement in some hard corals.

Chad

Take a toothpick and run it through the coral and then through the epoxy while its soft.

Chad,

Also what you can do is attach your frag of soft coral to a small piece of rubble rock using an elastic band. Make sure there is good tissue-rock contact and don't make it too tight or the coral will split. Sometimes this takes a few weeks. Then you take your epoxy and attatch that rubble/coral to your rockwork. Although, I would keep it on the rubble cause then it's mobile if you ever decide to move the coral around.

Hope that helps a bit.

Well, I thought about the toothpick thing but decided I just couldn't bare to shove a piece of wood into this poor creature :biggrin: . So, I took a needle and some thread.. poked it through a little tiny sliver of flesh at the bottom and tied it loosely to the rock. I wish I did have small pieces of rock to attach them too but unfortunatly I don't. I hope this works.. :rolleyes:

Chad

You can buy rubble from your LFS. They still sell it as liverock by the pound it's just cheaper. It's really handy for frags!