High Tide Aquatics

Improving my coral fragging - coral glue accelerator

Alexander1312

Alexander1312

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I love corals but I dread glueing them onto plugs, rocks etc, so I am always looking for ways to make this easier.

Is the attached product a suitable accelerator for the same branded coral glue, or are there better/more suitable products you guys recommend? This seems to have a strawberry scent which makes me a bit nervous.

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RandyC said:
Yes. This works fine as an accelerant for all cyanoacrylate based super glues. Beware that the reaction it creates is exothermic, so be sure you dip the coral in the water pretty quickly to keep it from damaging the coral from heat.

This is the exact same stuff BRS sells.
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Also be careful if you're like me and get glue all over your fingers when fragging. Fresh glue on your fingers plus accelerator = hot enough to be painful.
 
IOnceWasLegend said:
Also be careful if you're like me and get glue all over your fingers when fragging. Fresh glue on your fingers plus accelerator = hot enough to be painful.
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Good to know, thank you. I am using rubber gloves for almost all of my reef tank maintenance activities (probably one of the reasons I am not doing well with the fragging…).
 
I use that SAME BSI for quick setting the glue. The sprayer is not meant for our kind of use in my opinion. I prefer to get a 1ml syringe with a small tip applicator. You don't need much of the accelerator and can target the area with more precision. Also, gloves can be difficult to get the tactile feel of what you're doing. I ditched the gloves after me first few tries. It has been going much better since.
 
Make sure to use the insta-set with lots of ventilation and rinse it off frags well before putting frags in your tank. I stopped using the sprayer and use a small pipette to put a drop or two where I need it.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
So @Coral reefer taught me a pro tip that works every time. Instead of gluing your coral to the plug, rock, etc., glue it to glue.
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Meaning if you get the glue stuck to whatever surface you’re attaching a coral to first you’re going to have better success. I put a bunch in the coral, smash it onto the surface for awhile to a glob of glue is attached well, then stick the glue on the coral to the glue in the rock or plug.
 
With the accelerator- You want to put the accelerator on one side and the glue on the other then smoosh together quickly and decisively since you only have like 1-2 seconds once they contact.

If you instead put glue on the coral, then spray the glue with accelerator, then put on plug or rock is starts forming a polymerized shell before you smoosh and doesn’t bond as well.

I don’t recommend the accelerator for gluing inside the tank because it cures too fast, and because you get some of the accelerator in the tank. They say the accelerator is reef safe but I always wash it off in a cup of tank water after bonding as others have suggested.

I don’t disagree with the above comments about syringe application vs sprayer, but I use the sprayer and have never had a problem.
 
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