attaching corals to liverock? and gloves?

[lee_in_corpus]

hey all!

i've been thinking about doing some DIYing in my tank.  I want to get some more liverock, and attach my freestanding (leaning) frogspawn and hammerhead to a rock.  ive been researching online, and ive found 2 different schools of though, and wanted to get ya'll's opinions.
1.  take the liverock and coral out of the tank, and into a smaller saltwater filled container.  let just the area you want to attach the frag to dry out.  then pull the frag out, and use superglue containing cyanoacrylate to attach it.  hold it in place and submerge it all, and let it solidify there for awhile before you put it back in the main tank.

2.  use this apoxy stuff that is safe to use underwater, and without taking anything out, mix the apoxy, attach it to the rock, and stick the coral in it.

do either of these methods sound right?  anything totally wrong?

and my other questions...ive seen several people mention using gloves when working with rocks (and my bristleworms).  is there any specific kind of glove for this?  ive never seen underwater work gloves!!

TIA.

[psykokid]

I find its easier to mount a frag to a plug or disc then mount that to the rock work. When i moved tanks I had a couple of pieces that i had to wait until later to move because they were epoxied into the rock. They hung out in my sump for a week till i got everything done. Ended up having to bust off stratiegic bits of the rock. If you have things mounted to plugs or discs you can usually pop the plug off of the rockwork and not disturb the mounted piece. I usually use super glue gel to mount pieces to plugs.

Get a bowl of water and your disc/plug/etc and coral laid out. Keep the coral in the water until you need to remove it. Put the super glue on the disc/plug and then pull the coral out of the water and put the base of the coral into the super glue. Position it however you like then dip in water, it will make the outside of the superglue film over and soft set up. Let it cure in the tub of water for a few min and then place it where ever you like in the tank.

[Bergy]

softies are hardder to glue/epoxy...

You can just sandwhich the softi between a couple rocks...

either let gravity hold the rocks in place or you can use rubber bands or something to tie the rock/softy sandwhich together


drying stuff out is not necessary or required...

it is ok for things to be damp...

keep in mind that the glu will not completely stick as if everytghing was dry, but you really cant dry out a frag without killing it or causiing damage

it is oka to have partial sticking power, just good enough to keep the frag in place until the frag grows over hte glue/epoxy and onto the rock/frag plug


the gloves people are talking about are reefing gloves.. they are long plastic/vinyl gloves that go past the elbow

they arent necessary...  just be carefull, look at where you are grabbing, if you are picking up a rock, maybe good to tip the rock over so you can see the bottom and knock off anything you dont like, i.e. bristle worms...


but generally speaking, unless you have cuts or open wounds then it should be ok to pick stuff up....


as for gluing the rock or frag plug to yuouer rock work in the tank, is the same, you cant dry off the aquascape, so apply a generous dollip of glu to the bottom of the frag rock/disc and then turn it over and and place it under the water, (a skin will develople), and mush that glue into a rock and twist a little bit so the glu kinda mushes/spreads into the rocks crevices and hold it till it hardens enough to support it...

then let it go..

it will continue to get harder and the glue will lock itself around the cracks and crevices...

it isnt a permannet bond and you can twist the rock off at a later date... if you want


anyways, practice makes perfect...

[Just_Greg]

don't worry about BW's...they aren't gonna chase your a$$ down to poke you, and if by some chance you DO get popped, just soak the affected area in vinegar for 5-10 mins and it will be like it never happened.

[OCtrackiepacsg1]

Bristleworms are nocturnal right? So they should be hiding in the day. I don't use gloves because I doubt anything would happen/I'm too lazy to get gloves.

[Bergy]

yea, i dont mean to make it sound like bristle worms are going to attack you on site..

it is more of an occasional encounter and or brush up/against...

i hate the gloves cause you cant feel or grab or get into tight areas....   

I make sure that i wash/rinse my hands in between different corals... if i have acan goo on my, i dont wan to pick up pmy monitporas or acraporas...

and with golves it is easy to do that as you dont feel the slime/goo...

and yea, BW are more nocturnal, but they will come out in the daytime if theysmell food and think they can get away with it..  they have very good  senses and can and will sense you lookin in thier general direction... it is amazing...

[lee_in_corpus]

yeah, ive seen my BWs out in the daytime before, and they are actually living in little holes in the rock.  makes me nervous to put my hands in there sometimes.  plus some of the rocks are covered in those barnicle thingies, the little spike thingies that grow a few milimeteres out.  one of those got me real good....it was actually growing in the fliter and gave me a nice little cut when i was cleaning it out.

looks like next time im at the fish store, im gonna look for some small disc rocks for my poor loose frags. 

as always, thanks so much for the input.  ive got some plans for my tank.  if everything works well, in a few weeks i'll have some new pics!

[Bergy]

yea, those little things are not barnacles, but are actually a tube/shell for a small worm like critter... you can usually see them right after lights out  and yea, they are hard/sharp and will leave a good mark if you arent carefull

and you should be careful of BW or other unknown critters.. but that dont mean you have to wear gloves all the time... 

if you see a danger and or worse, dont see a danger, then fine, use the gloves... but for most things like rearranging or whatever, it will prolly be oky to just touch what you can see, move the rock around and give teh little critters a chance to get out of the way and hide like they like...

you can make your own frag rocks/disc/plug.... just use an ugly live rock... and a hammer... they break up really easy...

i wouldnt suggest breaking a good lookin rock but if you have something ugly, then sacrafice it for the team and keep the pieces wet / or in the sump or in the back..

then you can just grab a small piece when you want/need it


 

[Just_Greg]

you'll get used to handling LR...there's a "sweet spot" where you hold it just tight enuff so it's secure in your hand, but not so much that you poke the crap outta yourself in little sharp things like Vermetid gastropods, dusters, foramaniferans, etc.

i'm like Bill...i'd never be able to use gloves while doing work in the tanx...don't have the dexterity, and as he mentioned, you can't tell if you've been "slimed". 

as for the BW's i was in the hobby 15 years before i got popped, and it was my fault...i lifted a large rock and put my hand underneath it to support it and just happened to find a large BW.  of course, with the types of fish we keep, a hit from a BW is nothing compared to "oopsing" with one of the fish...

[psykokid]

I always make sure i know where the leaf fish is hanging out before i put my hand in the the tank now days.. dont want to bump into him on accident and get stung. I can only imagine how un fun it would be after getting nailed by the urchin before..