Advice on gluing a disc to live rock

[flotation]

Hey, new here, though I've read through some of the great advice to be found on this forum.

I've had my first saltwater aquarium up and running for about 6 months now and have 2 corals. I'm having trouble keeping one of them glued to the live rock because of the bumpy nature of the rock in the area where I'd like to glue it. It keeps getting knocked over by my hermit crabs, which obviously stresses it out. My ideas was to boil up a few small rocks and find one that I can glue onto the live rock to create a flatter surface onto which I can then glue the disc. Does anyone have any advice about this strategy? Or a better strategy?

I'm not really comfortable popping the coral off the disc. It's probably all in my head, but I'm worried about damaging it, and I'm fine with how the disc looks.

Thanks!

 

[Quietman]

I am a big proponent of removing frag from plugs and attaching to rock rubble before attaching that to rock in my display. It can be a bit nerve wracking removing coral from plugs but so far I haven't killed anything yet. And I've ended up with two or more frags from one although not on purpose. All kinds of guidance here on how best to remove. I find a scalpel works well. If microfrags I'll grow out on rack in DT for a bit first. I dip all my corals so not worried about pests. I just think it looks more natural and much easier to move the coral if it doesn't grow into place well and needs to be moved.

I would not recommend boiling any rocks as that can be dangerous unless you're very familiar with the type of rock (some have water bound up in the structure and can explode when heated). And never boil formerly live rock due to who knows what can aerosolize off that.

You can buy rock rubble which is perfect for this. It's all the broken pieces of bigger rock. I do not cure it and just use it dry out of the box/bag but there's no reason not to if you wish.

I use a two part rock putty epoxy (Tunze) and a drop or two of gel superglue to attach rocks. The putty conforms to shape and the gel helps hold it on. It holds well but it's not a permanent bond as I've found the rock pulls off with a bit of work and that's exactly what I want.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Best way I have found is to make the “epoxy” sandwich. You get JB waterweld or other reef safe epoxy and superglue gel.
First put some superglue on the frag plug, then epoxy, then more superglue. Attach to rock, should create a nice bond, removable with a little force if ever needed in the future.

 

[Gtinnel]

Yep the sandwich method is what has always worked for me. Superglue gel/epoxy putty/superglue gel

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I use a large amount of superglue, rub the frag plug on the rock where I want the frag to be (to get some superglue on the rock), and the hold it there for 20-30 seconds and it's done! Superglue sticks to itself really well, so having some glue on the rock just helps it stick better

 

[Quietman]

I found the sandwich a bit messy but superglue is my kryptonite. Every time I open any container of it I know I'm going to have some of it attach to something I didn't intend.

I just use a nice sized 1/4" thick disc of putty on rock and then put thumb print to hold the glue. Seems to hold as well as the sandwich without me hearing about my sloppy gluing skills from my wife. Again, I'm using dry rubble (with wet I might put a drop or two of glue first as well now that I'm typing this).