How-to: Fix corals and frags to substrates

An issue concerning us saltwater aquarists periodly is fixing corals into your home reef aquarium. On the one hand it always appears if I bought new corals from my dealer, but also on the production of my own coral frags.

The following options are available in the market from different companies:

– Superglue “Gel”

– two-component adhesive

– Reef Cement

It can be structured by the following uses:

* Use outside the tank for fixing frags on substrate or little rocks.

* Use underwater for fixing smaller rocks or frags onto your life rock.

* Use underwater for building natural structures like fixing table Acorpora or larger rocks.

Depending on the purpose, different methods have been proven successful – oftentimes in combination:

Fix frags

Smaller frags, e.g. of fragmented corals can be fixed outside the tank by using superglue. It is very important to use gel adhesive and not the viscous variant. Commercial glue from the hardware store can be used as well.

1. Fill the small depression in the rock with superglue

2. Put your frag in the superglue

 

Tip: That glue binds faster if sprinkeled with water or put shortly in some (sea-) water. After around 3-5 minutes, the frag should be fixed.

Alternatively frags can also be fixed with a 2-component adhesive outside the tank. The 2-component adhesive is a mass which holds even larger frags in position until hardening. However, this one does usually stay a bit flexible.

Fix corals underwater (2-component adhesive)

Fixing corals underwater is a huge challenge and therefor a much debated theme in various boards. 2-component adhesive has the positive chracteristic that it remains a few minutes flexible  and then gets hardened underwater.

But there are few products that remain fixed in time. Most of them stay flexible. Therefore, according to my experience, the use makes only sense if the frag is placed on a plate or in a vertical position.

1. Mix both components completely.

2. Place a small ball on the bottom of the stone

3. Press your frag on the rock and don’t touch until adhesive cures.

Smaller frags can be fixed by an adhesive ball pressed gently on the reef.

Underwater-use for larger corals and experimental reef scaping

Fixing overhanging corals e.g. table-Acropora looks very natural and gives your reef a great scape. However, using Reef Cement is not easy and needs several attempts. It’s very important that the coral is not moved during the processing because the cement otherwise immediately dissolves.

But: Once Reef Cement is tied properly, it stays!

1. Mix Reef Cement with some water until you have a very tough mass.

2. You have to hurry up – it gets hard in 1-2 minutes

3. The coral shouldn’t move – build a subconstruction to keep them in position

4. Fill the egdes between the coral and your rock with small balls of reef cement.

Reef Cement can also be used to permanently fix small frags onto your reef.

Do you have experiences, tips and tricks on this topic or different solutions? I’m looking forward to your comment!