gluing mushrooms

[digidana]

ok, i know this shouldn't be rocket science, but i'm having trouble gluing a couple mushrooms to a rock. there are about 5-6 red mushrooms from runner, and i've superglued (gel) them twice, and they just blow off. i'm using loc-tite superglue gel. the first time, i put them on a totally dry rock, let them sit for a few minutes, then put them in the water and they blew right off. the second time, i dried the rock as best as i could. let them sit out of the water longer with a wet paper towel over them so they wouldn't dry off, and only one stuck!

i'm considering just duct taping the suckers on there. i've done a couple kenya trees, and a couple other little things that seemed to work ok, its just the danged mushrooms. what am i doing wrong?? thanks!

 

[Angela Short]

I am surprised the kenya tree worked. You can not super glue a softy, they just fall off when they slime up. If you have a low flow area you can lay them on some rubble and they will attatch themselves in a few weeks or you can get a small, short glass and put crushed coral (or other crumbled rock) in the bottom and place them in that till they attatch to some rubble and then super glue the rubble where you want it. The glass keeps the shrooms from blowing away and you can rubberband a peice of fish net material over the glass if they tend to blow out. Hope this helps.

 

[digidana]

well, i'm glad i'm not going crazy...i was about to saute the things with some butter and garlic.

i gotcha on the short glass in the tank trick...that's were i had them sitting before i tried gluing them.

are zoanthids an exception? i glued a small mat to a rock and they stuck...tho they don't seem very happy about it. only a couple are opening. thanks!

 

[ct_vol]

Softies are about the only thing you can't use the super glue gel on... I've seen people sew softies to the rock untill they attatch, stick toothpicks through leathers into rock untill they attach... Or use netting to hold them against the rock untill they attach...

 

[EvilMel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11713178#post11713178 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ct_vol
stick toothpicks through leathers into rock untill they attach

I've done that. But what Angela suggests with the glass and getting softies to attach to a piece of rock rubble or crushed coral worked the best for me. If you can get them to attach to...say...a piece of crushed coral, then you can glue the crushed coral to another rock for a more permanent home.

Zoanthids are certainly glueable (is that even a word?) if they form sort of a mat. Some do, some don't exactly. Basically the polyps are spaced closer or further apart depending on which zoa you use. For ones that are farther apart, I just chisel away at the rock underneath (not touching the polyps at all) and then glue however much rock comes off to another rock for my frag. I learned this from Art, actually. The ones that form a mat are fine to just superglue IMO.

BUT...it never failed that if I glued down 10 frags, at least one would unattach.

 

[digidana]

i gotcha, thanks mel...

i'm guessing ric is not glueable either right?

thanks!

 

[EvilMel]

I would guess no...but I don't have any real experience withs rics.

 

[ct_vol]

Rics aren't glueable, but they'll usually attach to a bit of substrate and you can glue that down... Best thing I've found for getting mushrooms/rics to attach is either to use the netting and a rubber band around some rubble, or use a small tupperware container with a bunch of rubble in it, and put the mushroom/ric in there... Make sure that the sides on the tupperware are high enough to block all the flow from the tank so that the mushroom/ric has a chance to attach and won't be blown away... Also have enough rubble to cover the bottom of the container so that it has something to attach to if it gets moved a bit... If it falls through to the bottom just fish it out and set it back atop some of the rubble...

 

[digidana]

how long does it take to attach normally? days, weeks, months?

thanks!

 

[ct_vol]

Days to a couple weeks usually...

 

[Runner]

Hey, Dana. I have used the rubberband method where I couldn't use still water. The reds have taken 3~5 days to attach before. But those ricordeas each have a bit of rock behind them that you can glue to something. I took a dremel tool cut-off wheel and scored it around and popped it off with a flathead screwdriver. Just glue rock to rock.

 

[digidana]

thanks! i have about 3 each of the reds on 2 different rocks, just sitting. i don't have much flow yet...just the one koralia #4 and the returns. so if they only take a couple days to attach, i should be good. the ric, i still have in the cube and haven't really played with them yet. i've been working to get the big tank right and wanted to keep them stable in the little tank until i was ready. i really like them. they're a nice color and very healthy. nice to know i can glue 'em! thanks!

 

[mamagoose45]

One piece of advice I would throw out there is to make sure you have enough rubble/crushed coral in the glass (we use extra tall shot glasses) for the corals to attach to. We've made the mistake before of only putting one small piece in the glass, and then had the coral attach itself to the glass instead of the rock...