How do you hold down you frags?

[Brian]

I just got some more frags and was wondering how everyone holds down their frags. I have some hermits in my tank that love to move the frags I have now so trying to find a way to keep them in place. While at BRK I should've asked but was on a time schedule. I saw they had this kind of putty that I could put under the frag disks and was wonder if that is what others use?

 

Thanks

[capsfan]

Superglue Gel!

[Brian Ward]

superglue gel to the frag disc/plug. Epoxy the frag disc in place if necessary though I've never seen a crab or snail move a frag disc. for LPS you have to epoxy in order to provide enough support.

[Jon Lazar]

Depends on the type of frag. I use both superglue gel and 2-part plumbers epoxy stick, depending on the application. The epoxy will form a mechanical bond if you work it into a crevice, but it isn't sticky. You can also use a combination of the superglue gel and the epoxy to make everything stick together.

 

I usually remove frags from the frag plug and glue them directly to the rockwork once I figure out where the coral is going to be happy for the long term.

 

Jon

[lanman]

I just got some more frags and was wondering how everyone holds down their frags. I have some hermits in my tank that love to move the frags I have now so trying to find a way to keep them in place. While at BRK I should've asked but was on a time schedule. I saw they had this kind of putty that I could put under the frag disks and was wonder if that is what others use?

 

Thanks

 

What are you trying to accomplish? To put a frag into the display tank, on a rock - a permanent location - I use super-glue to glue the coral to the frag disk or plug, let it encrust onto the disk - and then use two-part epoxy (the clay-like stuff that turns purple) to secure the frag disk to the rock. But it's still not terribly secure - until the coral encrusts over the edges of the disk onto the rock itself.

 

An alternative for the patient - super-glue the frag to a decent sized rock instead of a plug - let it encrust the rock, and then put the rock where you want it.

 

bob

[Brian]

I had recently picked up some frags and they are on frag disks. Just for some reason the hermits in my tank love to move the frag disks. I love a frag I got because of this so I would like to at least keep the frag disks in place until they encrust.

[Almon]

My crabs, snails, and fish move stuff all the time. It's annoying to place a frag in a location to determine if it's a good location, just to have a Mexican Turbo push it aside, or the Blenny push it off the reef because the frag is in his spot, or the Electric Blue Leg Hermit that will toss a frag disc over it's shoulder to see what's underneath.

 

Question: Why does everyone use Epoxy to secure discs and plugs to the reef? Why don't you use the superglue Gel (handibond) which is the same glue that you use to secure the frag to the disc? I don't understand...

 

I use the handibond gel for everthing, glueing the frag to the disc and glueing the disc to reef. There was a group buy for the handibond gel about 6 months ago.