Help: How to make an epoxy block

[Deleted member 7065]

I was at a LFS (Old Town Aquarium) and saw how they mounted some coral. They had a few small corals - frogspawn, hammer and candycane put into some sort of eposy block. You know how you can get some of the frags that only have one head - well they put a few of these into this block to make one nice coral. The block looked like it was formed in a round tupperwear. They were from 1 to 3 inch in diamer and about 1 inch thick.

Great idea. I would love to do this with some of my small frags. But..... How to do it. Any idea what type of epoxy this could be. It has to dry fast and be water safe.

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks.

 

[RandyStacyE]

You could make these out of many different things. I'd just bet that the 'epoxy' is more expensive than a 50 pound bag of Portland cement. In other words it cheaper to make cement ones over epoxy.

Run a search on the web for "reef plugs". Most are made from Portland cement or different mixtures. Basically their DIY rocks any shape/size you want.

Some use this epoxy to glue their stony frags to the reef plugs. I've seen this epoxy in pet shops and just about all aquarium supply shops online etc...

 

[Deleted member 7065]

Thanks... But, you have got the wrong idea.

The idea is to be able to put in a live piece of coral and cast this. Have it harden pretty fast so you can return it to the tank.

Here is an example. I have a few heads of branching hammer corals. The stalk is about 3 inches. It is hard to glue these into the reef next to each other. But if I can put all of them into one base then I can put it anywhere I want and have a nice large piece.

The store bought the coral this way, so they have no idea how the guy made it. They were no help.

Put you thinking caps on. This could be really cool.

 

[bassnman11]

You can get casting resin at most large craft stores. Use tupperware or glad containers for molds.

 

[Deleted member 7065]

Sounds good.

So you have found that it dries fast and does not harm the aquarium?

 

[H20ENG]

Stick with epoxy for the fast cure. BTW, Fast cure = HOT so it may burn the coral if not placed in water quickly. Most liquid epoxies will not cure well in water like the putty types. Maybe you could make a nice aragocrete base with holes in it, then putty epoxy the corals in place after the base is done.

 

[bassnman11]

I missed the part about you wanting to cast the coral in. Casting resin cures by chemical reaction and takes only minutes, but does get hot. I would cast the pieces, then superglue the frags on. You can even mix sand in the resin to give it a more natural look.

 

[Deleted member 7065]

I am going to give it a try. The coral head is a couple of inches from there the resin will be. I don't think it will be a problem.

Thanks