Have you ever glued or epoxied a frag in the perfect spot ten times only to give up and let it stay on the sand? I know I have, but today we are going to change that for good. Recently a friend taught me a new technique that will have your frag plugs standing on end where ever you want them, and even the biggest snails won’t be able to change that. Get sticky after the break.

There are two primary products on the market for gluing frags in place, cyano acrylate glue and epoxy, but neither of them work very well. CA glue needs a tight contact patch for it to dry quickly a with strength, but with naturally formed corals and rock, a tight fit isn’t always going to happen. Epoxy can fit in to any small opening and conform to the rock and corals you wish to attach, but it doesn’t really adhere to surfaces very well. So what must we do to keep our corals safely where we place them?

The answer is use both!

Seperately niether one works well, but together they form the ultimate underwater bond. The key to this technique is to use CA glue/epoxy/CA glue. What this does is allow the epoxy to conform to the surface of teh rock and coral which leaves only a thin and large contact patch for the CA glue to adhere to.

Start by mixing up the amount of epoxy you will need. Form it in to a stick with one end flattened.

Apply CA glue to the flattened end of the epoxy stick.

Now place the epoxy stick where you want the frag in your aquarium CA glue down and press is on to the rock.

Apply CA glue to the underside of your frag.

Place the frag, CA glue down of course, on to the epoxy and press it down.

After this the CA glue should harden rather quickly holding the whole mess together and giving the epoxy time to dry. It seems a little bit complicated at first, but use this method, and you will have much less problems with frags running free on your sand bed.

 

Categories: Elite Reef

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