This is interesting... alternative for epoxy

  • Thread starter Thread starter pelagic
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I actually am upgrading this weekend and this couldn't have come at a better time. I am going to try and order some on Friday, pending your results.

But if it is possible, then, this could be a massive thing for scaping and frags!
 
I ordered some yesterday as well, I am excited about not having to deal with the epoxy if this works.
I hate the epoxy smell. lol
 
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Here is someone using it for frag plugs in her system..

I am looking this up and wonder how much you'd really need to scape a tank.. Lol

It'd be nice if someone around had tried it..

It looks like she really had to press down hard, what is the risk of hurting the frag?
 
ooo this post was featured on the r2r facebook, that's why we suddenly have some many people reading it. lol
 
It looks like she really had to press down hard, what is the risk of hurting the frag?
Hmmnn. It may be her technique. Lol, all of us aren't as gentle as we probably should be. But im eagerly awaiting some feedback from the folks that ordered it before I do a big order to do a scape.

I wouldn't start with a frag myself, as it would be a way to make interesting shapes(will be upgrading the system starting tomorrow). I'm not good with epoxy and Aquariums for some reason. Though, I admit, I've only used the tlf stuff and haven't tried water weld yet.

But I look forward to hearing from the others..
 
Lookie what I got.
uploadfromtaptalk1428709160190.jpg



Also got a new control board for my lumentek so it's play in the tank night
 
Very cool stuff. 3/4 cup of water for a minute in teh microwave and pour some in. I put to much. OH well. Let it get clear and then pulled it and squeezed the air and water out. put it back to let it soften up more. Id say hotter water makes it more maleable. it is stiff like epoxy. tossed it in my tank and it DOES SINK. so I made it into a fat frag plug. super easy . I May stack a few rocks in the fuge together with it next.
 
Input it in soft and it hardened up in the tank good.
uploadfromtaptalk1428721635544.jpg


It has a sort of waxy feel to it. I boiled up a cup of water and am going to erase this
 
FWIW, Instamorph appears to be polycaprolactone, which will slowly degrade (hydrolyze) in a tank. It might even be able to grow a bacterial coating of species which can speed the degradation, like biopellets do.

I expect it is OK for a short term use (days to weeks to possibly months), but I'd be wary of a permanent reef application where failure would be an issue. :)
 
I received mine as well. I played with it for a while, here's what I thought


  1. When it's heated, it's like a chewing gum, the non-sticky one
  2. When you apply good pressure to it, it sticks to the surface of what you are attaching to firmly. i suspect it's because the particle are small and it adhere to the surface by filling the holes on the surface. It's definitely not a self-attaching material.
  3. It's fairly easy to shape it the way you want
  4. The material expends a bit after you heat it from its pellet form, so you are actually getting more than the volume
  5. Comparing to epoxy, it's definitely cheaper, not to mention you can restore it back to work-able stat in seconds, unlike the epoxy(how many of you had a the experience of having the epoxy got too hard on you? *raise hand*
  6. no odor! yay!

FWIW, Instamorph appears to be polycaprolactone, which will slowly degrade (hydrolyze) in a tank. It might even be able to grow a bacterial coating of species which can speed the degradation, like biopellets do.

I expect it is OK for a short term use (days to weeks to possibly months), but I'd be wary of a permanent reef application where failure would be an issue. :)

my thought for this one is if we use it to glue the SPS, hopefully the SPS bone structure will cover it before it gets degraded. As for using it for aqua-scaping.. I can see the risk if it degrades too fast, hopefully, that's not the case. I can drop a small piece in my tank and weight it periodically to see how fast it gets eaten. :)
 
So I have not had an issue with it in my tank at all. It does allow algea growth on it. That said, for me, It did not make good rockwork glue as regular epoxy seemed to perform better.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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