Crazy Glue or Not to Crazy Glue

SantaMonica · Apr 2, 2014

Trivia: Guess what makes super glue harden? Not air, but water.

760mason · Apr 3, 2014

Merlin3 said:
The super glue gel i am referring to is not rubber toughened.

Same stuff I use works great. Same ingredients as the over priced " reef safe glue from LFS"

Joe G · Apr 3, 2014

I've been using super glue gel from the dollar store for Years now.
Works great and it's cheap.
I frag a ton of sps every month and never noticed and Negative affects to my tank or corals.

TarHeelReefer22 · Apr 3, 2014

even the gorilla glue can leave a funny film in your tank...I saw spend the extra buck and get corafix which is ph neutral and made for reefs. I know that other stuff is ok but this is so much better!!!

nola90 · Apr 3, 2014

if you have a dollar tree by you, I get this:

Bulk 0.12-oz. Tubes of The Original Super Glue Gel, 2-ct. Packs at DollarTree.com

it is 0.25oz for $1 but it comes in .125oz tubes which some people don't like. For me, I like saving where I can even if it is something cheap like glue. I've used this for years with no issues in STN/RTN in regards to SPS.

mcarroll · Apr 3, 2014

Merlin3 said:
The super glue gel i am referring to is not rubber toughened.

Link me if I missed something, but according to their web site it is the same stuff...not going to argue with the company.

My bottle looks different probably because of how old it is. (Old!)

FWIW, rubber probably isn't the worst carbon based thing to have in your tank, especially when we're talking about the quantity we are. You can't even see these rubber bits with the naked eye. And as I say, I've used it minimally for frags without apparent issue. I'd just still prefer/recommend plain super glue.

-Matt

mcarroll · Apr 3, 2014

Merlin3 said:
The super glue gel i am referring to is not rubber toughened.

It's weird that yours (or the pic, anyway) says "shake well" on it.....another sure indication there's "something" besides glue in there.

Didn't notice this on the pic at first...will have to look closer at my bottle to see if it has any similar instruction.

-Matt

mcarroll · Apr 4, 2014

How much are folks paying for glue PER OUNCE?

All these glues look similar to me on that basis.

-Matt

TarHeelReefer22 · Apr 9, 2014

You can only learn by trying them...the cheap stuff doesn't cure as well and when you add the frag to the water you will ALWAYS see chemicals/glue just flake off still liquid landing around your tank so if you are going to use the cheap stuff you should take out tank water in a separate container and let it cure in there. Also the cheap stuff sucks when working with zoas and or other soft corals! Like everything in this hobby you get what you pay for! Good luck

mcarroll · Apr 9, 2014

TarHeelReefer22 said:
You can only learn by trying them...the cheap stuff doesn't cure as well and when you add the frag to the water you will ALWAYS see chemicals/glue just flake off still liquid landing around your tank so if you are going to use the cheap stuff you should take out tank water in a separate container and let it cure in there. Also the cheap stuff sucks when working with zoas and or other soft corals! Like everything in this hobby you get what you pay for! Good luck

I could be wrong but it sounds like you're talking about the thickness (or not) of the gel more so than cost.

It's true that most of the pet store glues are thicker than most of the hardware/dollar store varieties, but that's only a rule of thumb.

FWIW, I've never experienced any difference in curing between pet store glues and "generic" that wasn't explainable by the original consistency of the product.

I've even used plain, runny, run-of-the-mill super glue...which is ultra messy (as you describe), but still can work.

I think EcoTech's glue may be the thickest I could name (off-hand), and should be the least likely to cause your described problems.

I'm pretty sure there are similarly thick generics if you are willing to experiment...as you pointed out.

-Matt

TarHeelReefer22 · Apr 10, 2014

mcarroll said:
I could be wrong but it sounds like you're talking about the thickness (or not) of the gel more so than cost.

It's true that most of the pet store glues are thicker than most of the hardware/dollar store varieties, but that's only a rule of thumb.

FWIW, I've never experienced any difference in curing between pet store glues and "generic" that wasn't explainable by the original consistency of the product.

I've even used plain, runny, run-of-the-mill super glue...which is ultra messy (as you describe), but still can work.

I think EcoTech's glue may be the thickest I could name (off-hand), and should be the least likely to cause your described problems.

I'm pretty sure there are similarly thick generics if you are willing to experiment...as you pointed out.

-Matt

Yes thickness definitely makes a different but even when I tried the gorilla glue "gel" which seemed similarly thick to my "pet store" brand once it hit the water chunks floated off and landed on my monti cap where it then cured and killed tissue. I just choose to use products that are made for aquarium use mainly due to the fact that I have so much money invested into my reef that spending an extra <10 dollars is worth not stressing out coral in my tank but again just my opinion and experience and should only be taken as that my opinion!