What superglue to use?

cantMARKthat · Apr 4, 2018

I have heard to only use superglue that contains cyanoacrylate. How true is that?

Home depot sells a gorilla superglue gel and it contains Ethyl Cyanoacrylate, what is the difference?

Tautog · Apr 4, 2018

I use the same stuff, I believe it’s the difference between Gel and regular, but I never buy anything but Gel. Which ever brand you choose, buy Gel. I also use the green stick that works well for planting branches.

cantMARKthat · Apr 4, 2018

Ok what about the whole only use cyanoacrylate? What if it does not contain cyanoacrylate?

jrwiechman · Apr 4, 2018

I have had great performance from dollar store Gel super glue. It does contain cyanoacrylate though.

cantMARKthat · Apr 4, 2018

Ok, sweet.

Porpoise Hork · Apr 4, 2018

I've used Gorilla Glue Gel nearly exclusively in my tanks. It holds well and have had no ill effects to anything and for the price you do get a good quantity of glue. You do have to shake the crap out of it because the glue separates between its base liquid and gel if it's been sitting on the shelf for a long time.

cantMARKthat · Apr 4, 2018

Does yours say contains ethyl cyanoacrylate??

jd371 · Apr 4, 2018

I use IC-Gel and putty to secure my frags. I put a few drops of glue under the frag take a ball of putty and squeeze that onto the frag and then add a couple more drops to the putty. The frag is pressed into the spot I want and the putty conforms to the rock and the glue has more surface area to bond to. I have big Turbo snails and since doing it this way the frags have stayed put.

Porpoise Hork · Apr 4, 2018

jd371 said:
I use IC-Gel and putty to secure my frags. I put a few drops of glue under the frag take a ball of putty and squeeze that onto the frag and then add a couple more drops to the putty. The frag is pressed into the spot I want and the putty conforms to the rock and the glue has more surface area to bond to. I have big Turbo snails and since doing it this way the frags have stayed put.

I tried this for a bit but ran into some issues when I had to move some frags around. It was much more difficult to break them lose from the rock than with just using super glue alone. For the most part my turbos are not able to break anything lose, but every now and then the more destructive one will still manage to break the bond on a frag plug and the rock.

cantMARKthat said:
Does yours say contains ethyl cyanoacrylate??

I'll have to check tonight, but it probably does. I usually grab 2 or 3 bottles of it off the hanger when ever I go to Home Depot.

Porpoise Hork · Apr 4, 2018

Reading into it ethyl cyanoacrylate is basically the low viscosity variant of regular cyanoacrylate.

cantMARKthat · Apr 4, 2018

So it's just as safe.

Porpoise Hork · Apr 4, 2018

As safe as super glue is, yes.
One tip I can make is have a small tupper ware container handy. Fill it with tank water and dip the frag plug in it after you apply the glue. There is a thin film that comes off when the glue first gets wet that floats on the surface. It's harmless but irritating because it wont pass the weir on the overflow. This also starts the setting process for the glue so you will want to place it quickly, and will have to rub/grind the glue blob into the rock a little since the skin that forms won't allow it to sick all that well.

rkpetersen · Apr 4, 2018

All cyanoacrylate glues are esters of something or other, even if the label doesn't always make that clear. There's no such thing as 'regular' cyanoacrylate. Ethyl CA is the most common, but there are also methyl, butyl, and octyl CA products. Common superglues are all mostly or entirely ethyl CA.

rkpetersen · Apr 4, 2018

Porpoise Hork said:
This also starts the setting process for the glue so you will want to place it quickly, and will have to rub/grind the glue blob into the rock a little since the skin that forms won't allow it to sick all that well.

Good advice. Also, if you're attaching your frag to a rock with a lot of coralline algae on it, you will want to scrape most of that coralline off first. Otherwise the glue will bond to the algae, not the rock, and the whole thing will come falling off eventually after the algae dies.