Cali Kid Corals

Using normal liquid super glue with baking soda

Vincerama2

Vincerama2

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I stumbled onto some youtube video of a guy doing stuff with baking soda and super glue. So I looked it up and apparently baking soda helps super glue cure much faster than just water, and also creates a cement like mass.
So I was wondering if, instead of super glue gel, it might be effective to simply make a small pile of baking soda on your target rock (out of the water of course) then place the frag onto the pile, then drip super glue into the baking soda pile, rather than gooping up a mound of super glue gel then trying to blow on it or drip water on it to make it cure faster before your frag falls over.

No, I've not tried it yet, just throwing the idea out there!

V
 
Vincerama2 said:
I stumbled onto some youtube video of a guy doing stuff with baking soda and super glue. So I looked it up and apparently baking soda helps super glue cure much faster than just water, and also creates a cement like mass.
So I was wondering if, instead of super glue gel, it might be effective to simply make a small pile of baking soda on your target rock (out of the water of course) then place the frag onto the pile, then drip super glue into the baking soda pile, rather than gooping up a mound of super glue gel then trying to blow on it or drip water on it to make it cure faster before your frag falls over.

No, I've not tried it yet, just throwing the idea out there!

V
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I've done this for the last couple scapes and mixed sand into the baking soda for the latest one and it turned out great. Just put pinches of the mix on the joint and drip some super glue on and repeat to build up the joint. It's super strong and looks great but can be a bit messy and you need to soak the rock structures in rodi before adding them to your tank water. Way less messy than the epoxy mortar mix I tried. Soaking will prevent a large Alk spike. The glue sets instantly so there's no waiting for gel to dry or any need to use an accelerator.
 
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Vincerama2 said:
I stumbled onto some youtube video of a guy doing stuff with baking soda and super glue. So I looked it up and apparently baking soda helps super glue cure much faster than just water, and also creates a cement like mass.
So I was wondering if, instead of super glue gel, it might be effective to simply make a small pile of baking soda on your target rock (out of the water of course) then place the frag onto the pile, then drip super glue into the baking soda pile, rather than gooping up a mound of super glue gel then trying to blow on it or drip water on it to make it cure faster before your frag falls over.

No, I've not tried it yet, just throwing the idea out there!

V
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I’m intrigued. If you try it please share your results.
 
Here are some pics of a roughly 17" tall structure I put together out of broken rock in about an hour. Something like 80 pieces of rock if you include the small rubble.


8913B40A-245F-4788-8234-558C46CF8C18.jpg
795A9D3B-5A90-4563-9B8C-BBCD90C51934.jpg
FB59EA06-A1B4-4953-B2BD-7E551172D392.jpg
02C61F77-068B-4208-A9B0-F2DB0752451F.jpg
 
Vincerama2 said:
I stumbled onto some youtube video of a guy doing stuff with baking soda and super glue. So I looked it up and apparently baking soda helps super glue cure much faster than just water, and also creates a cement like mass.
So I was wondering if, instead of super glue gel, it might be effective to simply make a small pile of baking soda on your target rock (out of the water of course) then place the frag onto the pile, then drip super glue into the baking soda pile, rather than gooping up a mound of super glue gel then trying to blow on it or drip water on it to make it cure faster before your frag falls over.

No, I've not tried it yet, just throwing the idea out there!

V
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It’s a highly exothermic reaction. You’d want to dip in water fairly fast if using on any flesh (like when gluing acros).
 
RandyC said:
It’s a highly exothermic reaction. You’d want to dip in water fairly fast if using on any flesh (like when gluing acros).
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I have gotten careless and received a mild burn and exclaimed loudly. I wouldn't use it for gluing corals to frag plugs unless it has a stony base with no flesh. It's a bit harder to do with wet objects but not impossible.
 
Coral reefer said:
Damn! 80 pieces? That’s crazy fast for that many pieces
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Once you get on a roll it goes fast. Especially if you have a good idea of what you want plus having the PVC form to build around sped things up.

I have an extra 16oz bottle of thin CA glue if anyone wanted to drop by to build some structure. Just need dry sand, broken marco rock, and a new box of B soda.
 
Vincerama2 said:
I stumbled onto some youtube video of a guy doing stuff with baking soda and super glue. So I looked it up and apparently baking soda helps super glue cure much faster than just water, and also creates a cement like mass.
So I was wondering if, instead of super glue gel, it might be effective to simply make a small pile of baking soda on your target rock (out of the water of course) then place the frag onto the pile, then drip super glue into the baking soda pile, rather than gooping up a mound of super glue gel then trying to blow on it or drip water on it to make it cure faster before your frag falls over.

No, I've not tried it yet, just throwing the idea out there!

V
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@phc567
Will has been using this technique for years which works great on rock but even better bonding broken plastics on powerheads
 
Coral reefer said:
By awhile you mean like 10 seconds?
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The difference in gel setting in 10 seconds and this is the thoroughness. You can get a thin layer of gel to harden, on the outside quickly. However with this you can create a deep/thick hunk of glue frozen in place nearly instantly.

A bunch of examples at:

The downside from what I've read is it weakens the hardened glue compared to doing it all separately.
 
richiev said:
The difference in gel setting in 10 seconds and this is the thoroughness. You can get a thin layer of gel to harden, on the outside quickly. However with this you can create a deep/thick hunk of glue frozen in place nearly instantly.

A bunch of examples at:

The downside from what I've read is it weakens the hardened glue compared to doing it all separately.
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For glueing corals I don’t see a need for anything but gel
For rocks ok fine. Maybe I misunderstood the reason for the OP
 
Ya this seems like a bad idea for gluing frags. Gluing rockscape, sure. I can't imagine the heat of the reaction and the localized alk would be good for the coral.
 
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