Glue for dry rock

[rangerchris00]

Hey everyone question. I’ve been reading online that you can use gorilla glue to glue you rocks together. My question is does anyone know if this is safe for aquarium use ?

 

[Fish Fan]

That Gorilla Glue is 100% reef safe, no problems.

But, in my experience it's not that easy to glue rocks together with super glue gel, many use reef safe epoxies in addition to glue to give the bonds more strength.

Recently, I glued up about 50% dry rocks and 50% wet rocks, and I used regular (non-gel) super glue from the dollar store and baking soda and this worked great. The baking soda acts as. quick-set for the super glue, the joint dries almost instantly and is very strong. You just need to rinse of any excess baking soda before adding the aquascpe to your tank because the baking soda can affect your tank parameters. But it's a very good way to glue up rocks, in my opinion.

Good luck!

 

[exnisstech]

I use that glueing frags on plugs with no issues.
I don't know that it will hold rock together. I have read of people mixing it with sand and also cigarettes filter material to bond rocks. When I made my scapes i use super glue as a temporary bond them I used E Marco 400 to finish the bond. Its about like regular mortar and the rock will break before the joint IME.

EDIT: nothing special as far a a creative design because I suck at building scapes but this was done with the Marco 400. Its multiple structures so they could fit through one of the openings in the Euro brace.
I was too scared of one breaking and falling on the tank when I was placing them to trust superglue alone.

 

[Fish Fan]

I use that glueing frags on plugs with no issues.
I don't know that it will hold rock together. I have read of people mixing it with sand and also cigarettes filter material to bond rocks. When I made my scapes i use super glue as a temporary bond them I used E Marco 400 to finish the bond. Its about like regular mortar and the rock will break before the joint IME.

The sand or cig butts or even paper towel pieces are a way to get some solid material in with the glue to make it stronger. I believe the baking soda I used recently does something similar.

 

[exnisstech]

The sand or cig butts or even paper towel pieces are a way to get some solid material in with the glue to make it stronger. I believe the baking soda I used recently does something similar.

The baking soda and glue gets really hot. Says the guy that experienced the combo on his skin.

 

[Fish Fan]

The baking soda and glue gets really hot. Says the guy that experienced the combo on his skin.

That's good to know, thanks for taking one for the team lol!

 

[TheSun126]

That’s what I used to glue my rocks together. It’s not perfect and epoxy is definitely better but if you don’t have anything else it seems to work

 

[Staghorn]

That’s the gorilla superglue which is reef safe. I’m not sure about the original gorilla glue, which is a polyurethane glue, I’ve never used it, I wonder if anyone else out there has

 

[Fish Fan]

That’s the gorilla superglue which is reef safe. I’m not sure about the original gorilla glue, which is a polyurethane glue, I’ve never used it, I wonder if anyone else out there has

I don't think you can use original, expanding Gorilla Glue, but any cyanoacrylate super glue is fine. I get mine from my local dollar store.

 

[cilyjr]

That’s what I used to glue my rocks together. It’s not perfect and epoxy is definitely better but if you don’t have anything else it seems to work

Really, I've found the exact opposite.

The super glue gel and a accelerator has been the best for me. I will sometimes follow with a mortar but glue, done properly, after 24 hrs is hard to break.

@rangerchris00 this is just super glue gel, pilyfil rolled until it is a wick, and in some areas motar.
I will use the polyfill to fill gaps and pretty much soak it in super glue.

Pictures are 3 years ago and now

 

[TheSun126]

That’s what I used to glue my rocks together. It’s not perfect and epoxy is definitely better but if you don’t have anything else it seems to work

Really, I've found the exact opposite.

The super glue gel and a accelerator has been the best for me. I will sometimes follow with a mortar but glue, done properly, after 24 hrs is hard to break.

@rangerchris00 this is just super glue gel, pilyfil rolled until it is a wick, and in some areas motar.
I will use the polyfill to fill gaps and pretty much soak it in super glue.

Pictures are 3 years ago and now

I may not have given it long enough to cure or not used enough in that case. I used it to mount my frag plugs and my hammer stem, and it worked well for that. My rocks just didn’t want to hold. Could be because they were live rock and were wet at the time of glueing

 

[cilyjr]

Could be because they were live rock and were wet at the time of glueing

This, I've only ever done this with dry rock. If you're dealing with stuff that is wet and live and you want to keep it that way you would most likely just do the best you could with 2 part epoxy.