Attaching Corals

[montiel12]

Which way is best for attaching corals?

[on_fire_8]

I use gel superglue.

[ereefic]

What are you going to be attaching?

[BigFish]

where are ou attaching it if it is to some of the main rockwork superglue will be hard to do. So use reef putty. Also is this a personal question or just to get a discusion started about it? If it is personal what are you attaching and what is it going to be attatched too? I.E. a small rock or to your main rockwork

[montiel12]

I should receive my 250MH setup in a week. I have some softies but im ready to make the jump to stoneys. I have not purchased a coral yet but maybe you guys can suggest something. I like anyting that is flourescent or bright in coloration. How do you attach small to medium size frags. Where can I purchase the glue or whatever item i need online and how much?

[Pineapple House]

A Hydnophora would make a nice starter coral for you! It's bright green, and a fast grower. It is aggressive though, but will do fine under lower amounts of lighting.

Could you tell us how old your tank is, how many gallons, lighting, and calcium level?

As for attaching frags, you could easily do it with some Super Glue Gel, or underwater epoxy. For super glue, you could slightly dry the area of the frag which you want to glue, and drab a few drops of glue onto the rock which you plan to put the coral on. Stick the coral gently onto the rock with the super glue, and hold it for 10-15 seconds, or until it's secure. Then, you could place it back into the tank, or into a small container with tank water in it for 5 minutes (used to make sure the super glue holds).

Graham =)

[BigFish]

If you are attaching them under water use a reef putty you can get at most lfs. If you are going to put it on a small rock so you can move it to wherever you want it to be use any gel superglue. Just take the small piece of lr and dry it off. Then you can put a dab of superglue (no bigger than the bottom of the part you want attached you dont want the superglue to show) let te superglue set for 20 sec or so then add another small dab of glue on top of it and stick the cutting to it. Hold it there for 30sec and it is safe to put back into the tank.

[BigFish]

sorry I just repeated his post but it was not there wen I started, darn.

[montiel12]

My tank is a 30gallon (1 year old). Lighting is going to be a 1-250watt MH 10,000K. Calcium level is 420.

[BigFish]

You may want to rethink the mh unless you can afford a chiller. MH is very hot and would need to be hung quite far from a 30g so it would not overheat it. Also if you are going with mh you should get electronic ballast, not core and coil.

[Pineapple House]

You wouldn't need to hang the halide high. It could easily be added to a deep canopy. A chiller wouldn't be needed, as long as your halides were far enough off from the waterline, and Fans were present. You could very easily have an 8" deep hood, along with a single 4" Icecap fan, without having any heat enter the tank. A chiller would be overkill on a 30 gallon, IMO.

Graham =)

[BigFish]

I know a guy with a chiller on a 20 g with 180w pc lights and he has heating problems still. But that is because we live in az. p.s. 8in seems like quite far to me. My 144w pc is like mabe 3 in from the waterline.

[Pineapple House]

p.s. 8in seems like quite far to me. My 144w pc is like mabe 3 in from the waterline.
PC's and halides are totally different. Most do best 12" off the water. Your PC's don't put out as much heat as halides, therefor they can be put up closer to the waterline. Halides are recommended 8" or more off the waterline.

Graham =)

[BigFish]

that was what I was trying to say. If he has MH it will need to be placed farther away or he will need a chiller I dont argue with you at all PH believe me I wish I had half of the knowledge you have. But you will need more space withmh or mabe even a hanging pendant.

[montiel12]

Thanks for the replies fellas. I plan on hanging the MH about 12" from the surface. Hopefully this will be far enough and i wont have any heating problems.

[Pineapple House]

I dont argue with you at all PH believe me I wish I had half of the knowledge you have.
I wasn't Arguing with you Bigfish :-D I was just stating that 8" is a good amount of space away from where the halides were going to be :)

And yes, you will need more space for the halides as you stated. You cannot compare 8" and 3", so metal halides will need more room. A pendant might be a good idea if you don't mind hanging it from your ceiling or above area :)

Graham =)

[Fugly]

I don't see that a chiller would be overkill Graham if you lived in a hot climate. My LFS has a micro chiller on a 30 gal in its shop. It is the seahorse tank.
I am sure that you meant that it might be overkill to have it just because you have metal halides. In this case yes it would be... just writing this so people don't get confused with comparing chilling, to the size of your tank.
Chilling I think is more comparitive to room temp. :wink: