Mounting large colonies

[Labridaedicted]

Hey guys! So, lately I've been buying my acros in colonies (like baseball sized or so(also, these aren't collector pieces (I'm not made of money) )) and have encountered a dilemma. These are basically chunks, without a base and I don't really know how to mount these fellas. Typically I do a super glue and coral epoxy combo on plugs or rock bases, but I feel like the coral will just slime up if I try to apply glue or epoxy directly.

How are y'all mounting big pieces to the rock? I've already placed pieces on the shelves in the tank. Please help me brainstorm, gang!

Thanks!!!!

 

[dbl]

One suggestion...get yourself some live rock rubble - aka small pieces of rock. You can then drill an appropriate sized hole in the small rock, large enough to accept the base of your coral. Super glue coral to rock rubble, then use your epoxy/glue combo to glue rubble to base rock.

If you use just enough to hold the smaller rock to the base rock, you should be able to 'pop' it off and move it if there ever becomes a need to do so.

 

[Dsnakes]

That's a good question. I have a large Montipora Setosa that I can't get to stay upright. It's growing fine laying over, but I would like to stand it up for vertical growth

 

[jda]

Get a nice sized chunk of two-part putty - like the size of a larger 25 cent gumball. Put some superglue gel on both sides (rock and coral). Squish the coral where you want it and hold it for a few minutes. This does not always work, but works as good as anything. If you can find a nook or cranny, this will help too.

 

[Labridaedicted]

Get a nice sized chunk of two-part putty - like the size of a larger 25 cent gumball. Put some superglue gel on both sides (rock and coral). Squish the coral where you want it and hold it for a few minutes. This does not always work, but works as good as anything. If you can find a nook or cranny, this will help too.

This is my normal adhesion method and is tried and true. The problem is the weight of these. They're pretty big colonies... it's the larger acros on the top and second tier of the frag rack.

 

[jda]

I don't know what to tell you if that won't work. I have had to prop some up with PVC until the putty cured.

It will help if you take the AQ ones off of the mounts.

I have seen folks mount the colonies to frag plugs and then take the rock out and drill a hole for the frag plugs to slide into - even a rock with coral can be out of the water for 60 seconds while it is getting drilled. I have never had to do this, though.

 

[Salty1962]

I make a mold out of this:
https://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMax...quarium_Epoxy-AquaMaxx-UJ94624-FIMTEP-vi.html
After I have the mold, I super glue the coral to what ever I want to mount it on. I've been making strong magnet encased in acrylic and mounting old pieces of lr to it to mount allot of my colonies. Bad pic but you get the idea.