Cyanoacrylate gel

[karimwassef]

Cool. Found it and got some. I like their bone cutting tool too. Going to try that to rescue a small colony of encrusting pulsating Xenia that's about to get overrun by a marauding monti that's growing 0.25" a week. There's only about an inch left before it invades!

 

[JB NY]

For well over 10 years I have been using CA Gel by Great Planes, it's for the model hobbyist, but I can get it in 1 oz bottles (which is a massive amount) and it only cost me $5-$6. Just search for it on google, I think I bought it last time from amazon for 6 dollars and change including shipping.

 

[karimwassef]

Both came on the same rock by the way... And the monti latched on to a permanent base rock in my tank. So it's underwater surgery or death. Reef hospital drama!

 

[karimwassef]

So here's my superglue requirement- it needs to not form a skin when fresh and submerged. I'll try them all but the Loctite ultragel is the only one that does that among the hardware brands. Even the other loctites were failures.

If you have a minute, try to dip a fresh patch of your favorite superglue. If it forms a skin (both on itself and on the surface of the water), then adhesion is compromised. The less skin, the less compromised- for this application.

 

[SaltyWalter]

Yes the ocean wonders for a a skin but I've never had a problem pushing it against a rock or plug and having it bond right away. Hell, I even have montis and GSP glued to my overflow box, first time, no mess.

 

[rovster]

I use JB NY technique but instead of attaching the frag to the ball of putty, I actually put the ball of putty on the rock first then attach the frag.

So...
1. Make putty ball and add a dab of glue
2. Attach to rock and form into place
3. Add a dab of glue to frag and attach to putty

I find if you add the putty to the frag out of water, you just end up making a mess and end up with glue all over the frag. When making frag plugs, this may be different so keep that in mind....

 

[karimwassef]

Wow! Ocean's Wonder glue is outstanding!

Almost no film and ultra thick gel consistency. Best glue I have seen to date.

 

[Oldude]

I also recommend the epoxy/glue combo but even that has trouble sticking to coralline algae long term - give it a scrape and try gluing to the bare rock.