Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Whats everyone's 0.02 on epoxy? I picked up a tube of the aquastick the other day and wasn't impressed. I think I could've gotten things to stick better with peanut butter.

Super glue GEL, keyword gel. Works 10x better and looks 10x better. There is my .02!

Oateys epoxy is the same with aquastick.

I will let you in on a secret, it does work well !!

The trick is first, it only works on hard corals.

The second thing is although when you press the coral in it does not seem stuck, patience !! Just place it and walk away, it will stick.

Epoxies do not work by sticking. Thsy have to grab something as snoop referred to. When they dry, they hold very well. To increase your hold use super glue gel between the rock and epoxy and between the rock and frag.

Ahha! So that's how it works! That explains a lot! I was told I could use epoxy to kinda hold some of my LR pieces in place, but that wasn't working too well.
So, does LR have to be dry for the superglue gel to work?

You can glue your rocks together with Epoxy but the trick is to use enough so it can ooze throught the holes. All of my rocks in my 29 gallon are glued together with it, you cannot tell where though, it looks like one structure now.

I started using the epoxy and then when the frag didn't stay, which 90% of the time it didn't then I would use the same hole with super glue. That actually works really well because you are gluing it into a hole that it fits perfectly into.

Do the rocks or even frags have to be dry for the superglue to work?

Scott wrote:I started using the epoxy and then when the frag didn't stay, which 90% of the time it didn't then I would use the same hole with super glue. That actually works really well because you are gluing it into a hole that it fits perfectly into.

I've found the superglue works best when both parts to be glued can be taken out and towel-dried. In my case, I only use it for rock to rock situations, and only when I don't have epoxy handy. I can't get it to work with coral to rock, unless the coral is a cap or something with a hard stony base. For softies, needle and thread works like a charm every time.

I have had good success with the Lowes brand epoxy stick. It does take a while to get a good grip sometimes, so you really have to pick a good, porous spot, and really knead it into the rocks. I have also found that if you let it set for a minute or two after you knead it and before you put into use, it tends to get hard quicker.

hth.....

Having to glue in the water really sucks, you have to use a ton of super glue that way. I seriously try to glue out of the water when possible.