Going to purchase my first coral soon. Attaching methods??!!

MattD

Hi!

All right, my tank has finally dropped its nitrates to 0 ppm, so now I feel comfortable enough to add corals.

Soon I am going to purchase some, probably a couple of button polyps to start out, sort of like a test run to see how well they do. My question is, after reading various sites on coral attachment, which method is easiest and most effective? I'm thinking of just going the way of glue, but a couple of sites suggested rubber bands and insist that the corals' slimy excretions after being cut make it difficult to glue. Also, when the LFS frags it for me, I understand that corals need to 'heal' these cuts. Wouldn't applying glue to these cuts infect the wound? How can it heal if I apply a substance to it that will effectively 'seal' the wound?

Any advice/tips/info you can give would be great, I've never attached a coral yet.

Thanks!!!

SKAustin

The best means to attach a coral is really dependant on the coral.

Button Polyps and Zoanthids are easily attached by rubber band. Use a brightly colored band so that if it breaks free, you can locate it easily. By the time the rubber band starts to break apart, the zoos will have attached to the rock.

Finger leathers can be attached in many ways. the best I've found is to rubber band the base of the finger between two small pieces of rock.

Kenya trees can be attached very easily to anything, and they attach quickly, usually within a day or so. I just shove the kenya tree frags into the mouths of empty shells, or wedge the frag between an empty shell and the tank glass in a low current location.

Plumbers putty and Loc-tite Super Glue Gel work well for mounting stony corals. make a ball of the plumbers putty, depress it into the rock where you wish to mount the coral, then depress the coral into the ball of putty. Take it out and let the putty set for a few minutes. Then superglue the coral to the putty and the putty to the rock. FYI, the Superglue will set very quickly under water. The putty will blend nicely with the rock until coralline encrusts the putty, then you wont even know its there.

Also if using the glue an putty, use only "Loc-tite Super Glue Gel" and a 2 part plumbers putty that specifically states "Safe for Potable Water"

These are just a few of the many ways to attach corals. Use of propagation disks/plugs, flower stem plugs, rigid tubing, toothpicks and even magnets are a few of the other common choices.

MattD

I see, thanks for the info. I think I'll go with the glue, although I've recently discovered that lfs's usually sell it on a rock already.

SKAustin

Look for local Reef Clubs. It will open up a lot of opportunities for you to learn, and may give you potential to pick up coral frags for free, or at least, much cheaper than from the LFS. I think maybe 90% of my Coral livestock came from clubmembers.

caferacermike

Indeed I use MAAST for most of my coral trading, that's my local club. It's way better than buying.

Most of your purchases will already be "mounted".


Any cyanoacrylate super glue will work, gels are easier to work with. I use the 3 for .99 cents from the dollar store.