Reef expoxy disaster

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Chad

Did you guys microwave the epoxy first.

Guys, this is getting way out of hand! Microwaving epoxy first? What a pain. Just grab some of the cheap stuff, cut off a chunk and knead it to a uniform color, and mount frags. Not a big undertaking, and doesn't do bad things like kill fish.

[Whatigot]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Guys, this is getting way out of hand! Microwaving epoxy first? What a pain. Just grab some of the cheap stuff, cut off a chunk and knead it to a uniform color, and mount frags. Not a big undertaking, and doesn't do bad things like kill fish.

I'll bump to that.

halfway through some of the tunze stuff, will take the cheaper stuff next time around....

[gbeef]

GOOD NEWS!... thank god i think everything will be ok, i got home today and everything was swiming around.. the tanks rock work is a little messed. but everything is alive still and the water is clear.... Im going to wait to remove the stone as breathing on the blenny is rapid.

[marie]

Clouding a tank would scare me. I use D&D aquascape stuff because I think it sticks better then the cheap stuff (I've also used the cheap stuff) and I've never had cloudy water even in my 20g tank.
I think a good rule of thumb would be if it makes the water cloudy don't use it

[Delphinus]

What a weird thing to happen. Sorry for your distress gbeef - and glad to hear things may make a full recovery.

FWIW, I've always used this one:
http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...ct_ID=mc-hfast

.. because every LFS in town has it. Easy to replace. I've used the Tunze and the Deltec before in the past because of the whole "it looks like coraline!" claims, but didn't bother replacing them when they got spent. Because 1) pain to mail-order 2) "more expensiver" (especially when factoring in things like "all I need is the epoxy so can't make a $100 purchase...) and 3) the stuff didn't retain suppleness very nicely - it was more like squeezing marbles than kneading putty. And come to think of it, I think one of them DID cloud my water (I forget which one).

The white stuff ... OK so it dries white. But big deal - it gets covered in coraline sooner or later. Never had an issue with water clouding up or fish or corals reacting to it in any way.

Good luck!

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by marie

I use D&D aquascape stuff because I think it sticks better then the cheap stuff

Epoxy isn't really supposed to "stick". It's not an adhesive. You're supposed to wrap it around the base of a frag and jam it in a crevice. It then hardens and locks the frag in place.
Thinking back to the thread where lots of people had trouble with epoxy, that might be why.
And ya, anything that clouds my tank goes in the garbage.

[bv_reefer]

i always try to use small zip ties when possible, they're strong, last long and cheap. especially easy to use on fiji rock cause it's so porous, but for mounting frags I've always used reef glue by...boston aquafarms i believe. anyway glad to hear all should be well

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Guys, this is getting way out of hand! Microwaving epoxy first? What a pain. Just grab some of the cheap stuff, cut off a chunk and knead it to a uniform color, and mount frags. Not a big undertaking, and doesn't do bad things like kill fish.

I don't really believe its getting out of hand.. the idea of microwaving it first is to a) make it more pliable and b) allow the curing process to be quicker

Simply stating the instructions and in my experience with it, very accurate. Other epoxies I used took considerably longer to cure.

[marie]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Epoxy isn't really supposed to "stick". It's not an adhesive. You're supposed to wrap it around the base of a frag and jam it in a crevice. It then hardens and locks the frag in place.
Thinking back to the thread where lots of people had trouble with epoxy, that might be why.
And ya, anything that clouds my tank goes in the garbage.

Maybe sticky isn't quite the right word but with the cheap stuff I found I had to use a lot more to get the frags to stay and usually my crevices aren't very big

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by marie

and usually my crevices aren't very big

Nope, not goin' there!!