Hardscape - Superglue wiht Baking Soda

[fazendas]

Hi,

My tank has not arrived yet, but I'm already doing my hardscape. It's about 90% done.
I've used superglue with baking soda to glue the stones together. I used this combo about 3 times per junction. The junctions are rock solid, so hard, that I didn't like one of the stones that I glued, and it was really hard to remove it.

My initial plan was to do this, and then strengthen it with cement(aquaforest stone fix). But seeing how strong the bond of the junctions is, I would like to ask you, if it's really necessary? Is superglue going to weaken over time with the water?

My second questions is, for my understanding, the baking soda can rise the alkalinity in the tank, so I will rinse it the best I can. It is ok to rinse it with tap water? Just put in the tub and press wash it?

My third and final question is, if I'm using the cement, can I use tap water to mix it? The instructions in the package are not specific.

Thanks in advance.

 

[D.WhiteShark]

Rockscape looks good!

I would not risk it and reinforce the joints with some kind of cement mortar like the E-Marco 400 (great stuff!). It comes as a 2 part mix and needs no additional water. If your cement requires water, tap is fine since it's likely a very small amount.

Rinsing afterwards with tap or RO is fine for now. I don't know if the amount of Baking Soda used for the joints will make a significant difference in Alkalinity to worry about.

How big is the tank that you are getting?

 

[twentyleagues]

Hi,

My tank has not arrived yet, but I'm already doing my hardscape. It's about 90% done.
I've used superglue with baking soda to glue the stones together. I used this combo about 3 times per junction. The junctions are rock solid, so hard, that I didn't like one of the stones that I glued, and it was really hard to remove it.

My initial plan was to do this, and then strengthen it with cement(aquaforest stone fix). But seeing how strong the bond of the junctions is, I would like to ask you, if it's really necessary? Is superglue going to weaken over time with the water?

My second questions is, for my understanding, the baking soda can rise the alkalinity in the tank, so I will rinse it the best I can. It is ok to rinse it with tap water? Just put in the tub and press wash it?

My third and final question is, if I'm using the cement, can I use tap water to mix it? The instructions in the package are not specific.

Thanks in advance.

Reinforcing the joints wouldnt hurt I have done both. Nice scape btw! I used super glue and marco powder but the baking soda works as well, it should be inert after mixing with the super glue and curing. Rinsing off any residual baking soda is a good idea.

 

[fazendas]

Thank you both, it was my first try at reef hardscaping, and it was pretty fun, I could break and glue stones together forever

I will probably do the cement too then.

I'm getting a Nyos Opus G2 Pro Line 300, 90cm/3ft.
I ordered it about 2 weeks ago, still no prediction for arrival.

 

[Fish Fan]

I recently tried my hand at a glued up 'scape (as opposed to "rock stacking", which is all this Neanderthal has ever done ) and I used regular, non-gel super glue from my local dollar store and baking soda. My plan was to reinforce with some type of epoxy, but I found the super glue/baking soda joints to be plenty strong for my small, 25 gallon 'scape. If I was building something larger, I might be tempted to reinforce it. But baking soda and super glue makes a very, very strong joint.

Once glued up, just give the 'scape a rinse in tap water to rinse away any remaining baking soda.

Good luck!

 

[fazendas]

Yeah, I was surprised how strong the bond is, at the point of consider not using the cement, really really strong. I just don't know if this bond gets weaken in the water overtime, because if it doesn't, cement doesn't look necessary.

But I will accept the advices here, and I already bought the cement anyway. It's not going to look so nice after the cement because of the color, but i will try to disguise it, with more superglue and powder from the rocks itself. Probably not going to have enough powder), but that's a problem for the future.

Thank you.

 

[D.WhiteShark]

You can use sand or small pieces of rock to cover any cement added to help it blend in (that's what I did). Eventually your rocks will be covered with Coraline Algae and presumably all kinds of corals so it's likely no one will ever know. The reason I suggest cement is because of those corals, as they grow they will add weight and stress to those joints. Along with that, bumps and moving things around in the tank (water siphons, additional rocks/corals, glass scrapers, etc) are inevitable. Just food for thought.

 

[Fish Fan]

I don't think it would hurt any to follow up the super glue/baking soda with another cement or epoxy, but for those that haven't tried it yet, the super glue/baking soda creates a very, very strong joint on its own

 

[D.WhiteShark]

I don't think it would hurt any to follow up the super glue/baking soda with another cement or epoxy, but for those that haven't tried it yet, the super glue/baking soda creates a very, very strong joint on its own

I might have to try this on my next rockscape project!

 

[Fish Fan]

I might have to try this on my next rockscape project!

Give it a try, it surprised me how well it works! I've read that some people use super glue with baking soda for all kinds of household repairs because of how strong it is.

 

[fazendas]

Rocks cemented

Thank you all for your help.