Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tank Plant Advice => Topic started by: Skittler on December 29, 2017, 06:19:43 PM
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Hello All,
I am thinking of adding various Aubias and Java Fern to my 125L. Possibly 20+ plants. Some will be quite tall. Which do you think is the best method of attachment? Has anyone tried superglue gel?
Skittler
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I've recently bought seachem flourish glue, though I've not had a chance to actually use it yet. I will be using it for an anubias and Java fern as well as a bolbitus. It is essentially super glue.
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I usually tie mine on with sewing thread. It does help if someone can put their finger on the knots as you tie them. Some wood has crevices, and with this type I just wedge the base of the plant in a crevice.
These plants eventually cling by themselves.
The wood I have all had to be soaked to make it sink - one piece took 3 weeks. Does superglue stick to wet wood? Having spent ages trying to soak it enough to sink I wouldn't like to have to let it dry out again to get the glue to stick ???
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@Helen - that Seachem product is a gel. Apparently it can be used underwater! I can't imagine how as, @Sue, I have read that moisture/water is the activating agent for cyanoacrylate. I imagine it would bond very quickly. Over to you Helen! My major concern is that some of the Anubias will be at least 15" high.
Skittler
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I intend to use it to stick plants to wet wood and stone. I will take it out of the water, but only long enough for the glue to set. It sounds like I need to put the glue on the plants rather than the wood.
I'm also wondering if I can use it to stick two rocks together to build a stone bridge / arch.
I'll let you know how it goes.
It was recommended by someone on here, perhaps @Littlefish?
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Just a word of warning when using glue to attach plants. It will discolour the wood permanently where it touches it so just use small amounts that will be covered by the plant itself. To explain what i mean a little - I would suggest glue is a poor choice for attaching moss for example as you would have to cover the branches in it liberally. Of course using string means you can see the string but you can also remove it later down the line once the plant has attached itself to the wood.
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Thanks @Matt. I've tried the thread thing and haven't had much success. I have a couple of smooth round pebbles that I want to use the glue to attach anubias and bolbitus to. So I can put a small blob on the main root ball to hold it onto the rock and then hope that nature will do the rest.
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I've used the Flourish glue to attach anubias to wood on several tanks, because I'm rubbish with the thread.
I use wood that has previously been soaked, take that out of the water and wipe it dry with paper towel. If the wood is particularly craggy and holding a lot of water, a quick blast in the right place with a hairdryer works wonders. Dry the anubis with paper towel, as a small blob of glue (which I normally put on the rhizome or stem, and place it on the wood. Apply pressure & hold firm for a minute or two, until the glue sets.
I've had some bits of wood & plants which have taken quite a lot of glue & time to get things to attach, and it's been a bit trial and error for me.
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Coincidentally, I had been looking at Seachem Flourish glue given how unsuccessful I've been with attaching plants with thread - they always come loose, even a year down the line, as though they've never attached to the wood, so I've been keeping an eye on this thread with interest. I noticed that Supafish have a similar product - has anyone ever tried this?
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Thanks all. That's good information. @Littlefish - did your Flourish glue stain the wood badly? How tall was the biggest plant?
I now have 4 pieces of wood in one bucket, and various Anubias and Java Fern in another. That's me committed then. (Some say it should have happened years ago!) All the wood sank immediately, which surprised me. They came from 3 different LFS's and were described as "Rosewood Bogwood" (MA), "Mangrove"(MA), and "driftwood"(PAH). It all has to be done now because a w/c without those buckets will be very time consuming.
Skittler
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I understand that Malaysian drift wood sinks without being waterlogged but I don't know about the others you have.
With my plants tied on to wood, I find the main problem is the plants trying to float. Once they are in the water they become weightless. As long as you firmly attach the tall plants there shouldn't be a problem, except possibly during water changes. The part of the plant out of water will sag - or at least that's what my anubiases do, the leaves flop outwards from the centre of the plants.
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Thanks @Sue. That's a very good point about the w/c's. Perhaps I can do more smaller w/c's for a while. I won't know if I am going to have a "height/depth" problem until it's done.
Skittler
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50% weekly water changes are the best thing to do regardless. I have floating plants and when I've removed half the water the anubias leaves are all flopped outwards with a layer of water sprite on top of them. As soon as the water goes back in, the water sprite floats off the lower plants and the anubias leaves spring back upright again.
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@Skittler the glue leaves a white residue on the wood, which is usually hidden by the plant. If you end up moving the plant to another piece of wood in the future you can scrape the marks off the wood.
Some of the plants are quite tall. I have a lot of different sizes, especially in the axolotl tank, which is probably the worst tank for plants because it's a cold tank, the axolotls don't like too much light, occasionally mistake a leaf for food, and tend to rest in the leaves.
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Thanks everyone. Superglue gel it is then. Must do another w/c on the wood bucket - the colour is quite tea coloured at the moment.
Happy New Year to one and all.
Skittler
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So I used the seachem flourish glue.
It was successful for attaching the anubias to a rock and for attaching small bits of bolbitus to a rock. I see what you mean about the white. From a science point of view, it only looks white when it goes in the water so (prepare for geek mode) it must be something to do with the different refractive properties of the glue Vs water.
I also tried using it to attach some monoselenium to bogwood. When I took the wood and liverwort out of the tank, it was clear that my attempts with thread were all but a total failure - the liverwort was floating several cms above the wood, but the thread was stopping it float off all together. I used 3 blobs of glue on what I thought looked like core clumps and then pressed the wood onto the plant. Out of the tank, I was pleased that I had done a good job. When I put it back in the tank, most of the plant floated off! But there is just about enough left to give the right effect. It ideally needs a really good vacuum following the substrate reshuffle, but I daren't incase I vacuum the whole lot off the wood. Does anyone have any tips for attaching moss like plants to wood, particularly liverwort? Do I just need to use lots of thread? Will liverwort ever attach itself to wood?
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I would use black cotton thread. I'm quite fussy about my tanks looking natural and even I could cope with the thread against the dark wood, I wrap it round and round, tieing it in various places along the way. It doesn't look quit right at first as its flattened into place but it soon grows to look more realistic and cover the cotton.
The only other thing I can think to suggest is to put it on with thin tights stretched over it so it can grow through this but I imagine this would look pretty ugly...
I've also heard of people putting mosses in a blender and painting it on... I would not recommend this... I just think its a funny way of going about getting plants to grow... by bringing then to the brink of life first!! :yikes:
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The only other thing I can think to suggest is to put it on with thin tights stretched over it so it can grow through this but I imagine this would look pretty ugly...
Or a hairnet.
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I have used glue to attach moss to pads of filter sponge. I didn't put the moss in a blender, but did cut it into smaller pieces, put the glue on the filter sponge, then sprinkle/dab the moss onto the pad. Looked utterly rubbish for a while, but the moss grew very quickly, and if you keep trimming it the moss becomes very bushy and looks fine in a relatively short time. I'd guess it would be the same with tights or a hairnet too, and within quite a short time the moss will cover whatever you have used.