Cup coral

[DonW]

I was considering moving my cup coral up on a rock. It has a large stump base. Should this not be done? Should I glue him to the rock or just prop him up. What glue should I use if needed? I found some epoxy by two little fishes is this stuff safe? I also have a small frag that keeps getting knocked down, that I was considering the epoxy.

Thanks
Don

 

[Desolas]

With something that large you'll need to use epoxy. The stuff has no real adhesive value under water but it works much like clay, so you can mold the coral onto the rock you want it mounted to. It is reef safe, you can purchase the same stuff from any hardware store as well and save yourself a few dollars.

 

[DonW]

Epoxy

So I assume after a week or two it actually sticks. I see epoxy in reefs at the LFS and thought it was solid. I'm beginning to wonder if using the hex was a bad idea. Getting a tower up the center is pretty tough. My wife likes the tank and I cant afford to upgrade right now so I'll geep trying.

Thank you
Don

 

[Desolas]

The epoxy turns rock hard within 12-24 hours. It begins to solidify within minutes, I think you get around 12-15 minutes of "work time" with it before it won't hold together and starts to crumble while your working it.

Lets say you have a rock you want to mount the coral to, you'd mix up a decent amount that it could cover the base of the coral easily enough and still have a foundation to stick to something. You'd take a ball of the epoxy, and push it into the rock you want to mount to, get it down into any holes or nooks so when it dries it will have a foot hold. Then put the coral on top of the epoxy and mold a lip up and around the base of the coral. You'll need something to support this whole structure while it cures, but once it cures the epoxy acts as a setting for the coral, not really a glue for it.

You don't want to get much of the epoxy on the coral if the coral isn't already attached to a smaller rock. But if you do, in most cases, the coral will grow over the epoxy. Just treat it like your trying to use drying clay or play-doh to attach the coral.

 

[jesshimom]

Hex tank

Yes, you are right hex's are a pain in the behind! It took forever to get the rock stable as there is no floor room and stacking up a rock tower is very hard! I did finally use glue on everything, as I lost a couple small frags under the rocks, and decided they weren't worth taking the rocks apart to find after the headache of getting them stable!

Amazing last weekend I needed to replace a power head, so i was doing a little moving around, and I moved a large torch coral and found my two branched frog spawn frag head down under the rocks. Must have been there for a good two months, it was of course all closed up, figured it was dead. I moved it straight to my daughters 26 gallon tank and in two days it was wide open and is doing better than ever! Frog spawn must be incredibly hardy!

Anyway, once you get everything glued down, it's much better, and much more stable!

Colleen

 

[DonW]

Hex

The one thing I did find, is that Marshal Island rock is alot easier to get stacked with caves and passage ways for water flow. I just buy it one piece at a time. Its taking a long time to get it built but the end results should be worth it.

Don

 

[jesshimom]

hex

Yes, we were very concerned about that; so we dropped the return down towards the bottom of the tank. That has helped a lot. So far, no problems and it's been up running about eight or nine months now.

Good luck with your hex.

Colleen

 

[DonW]

Hex

What size is your hex? I'm using 43g and a 20g sump with 1" return at about 600gph and a 1000lph powerhead in the tank. Seems to be enough flow but I only have a single cup coral and a few mushrooms, so I really cant tell yet.

Don

 

[jmaxwell]

I have mounted a cup coral as described using underwater epoxy on the tip of a rock...it is very happy there. If you do use the epoxy keep an eye on your protien skimmer as it can make them foam like crazy for awhile.

Jim