How do you Secure SPS Frags on Rocks?

Reef Pilot · #1 03-10-2014, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rkaustinen

I just buy the thick gel super glue from the dollar store, sets up under water in 10 min. I've been gluing pcs of tubing to my rocks and gluing my frags to a plug that fits in the tubing. Works awesome! I can move my plugs anywhere, anytime I want and remove the whole colony to frag if necessary! Just make sure it's the thick gel!

I have achieved a similar effect and ability to move frags with just epoxy. And BTW, the epoxy is purple, so blends right in with the rock.

What I do with my epoxy putty, is before it is totally hard in the water, I slightly loosen and rotate the plug in the epoxy. Then after it is fully hardened, the plug with the frag can easily be removed and placed elsewhere. And the round hole is left, so that another frag can be put in its place without any more putty. I don't think you would be able to do this with gel glue, as it sets up too quickly. You can even create a bunch of blank holes this way with an empty frag plug, for future frag placings.

And with a larger frag, you can just stick the base stem into an old putty hole, without the frag plug. In many cases, no more putty is needed, as the frag usually jams in there pretty tight, and will quickly encrust to the putty.

Of course there is a time limit, as once the frags encrusts over the epoxy, it is there permanently. But it does work well for initial placements that you may want to move later.

straightrazorguy · #2 03-10-2014, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

I have achieved a similar effect and ability to move frags with just epoxy. And BTW, the epoxy is purple, so blends right in with the rock.

Great tips Pilot! What brand of epoxy do you use and where do you buy it?

Reef Pilot · #3 03-10-2014, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by straightrazorguy

Great tips Pilot! What brand of epoxy do you use and where do you buy it?

Aquascape Milliput Epoxy (from J&L).

Spyd · #4 03-11-2014, 12:56 PM

I would never bother with Ecotech glue... It costs a fortune. The Dollar store crazy glue works just the same. Get the thick gel stuff and use that. $1 / tube as oppose to $20 for a bottle... Just my 2 cents.

As for mounting SPS, I like to use a sandwich method. Crazy glue, epoxy, crazy glue on the bottom of your SPS piece then push it firmly into place. Keep the powerheads off for 5 minutes and it's set and will not move.

For epoxy, I use Aquamend because it is relatively inexpensive, safe and works very well.