help with leathers

[dne63]

No matter what I seem to do I have the hardest time trying to get any sort of leather corals to attach to pieces of l/r or frag disk's or plug. I have tried just about every suggestion given , placeing in glass or plastic with a piece of l/r, I've tried running a piece of thread or fishing line through the frag and tying it to a l/r giving enough slack for filling out, I've tried placing the frag between 2 piece of l/r and placing a rubber band around the 2 pieces. I have also tried crazy glue gel and epoxey. I also have tried the tooth pick and the pin in the coral way. WHAT am I doing wrong out of about 10 to 15 trys I have only had 2 or 3 frags that ever took, they always seem to come lose or rought , tair or just always come lose does anyone have a sure fired way to suceed with leathers . Help!!! I keep getting nice frags only to have them end up dieing...

[JustDavidP]

Hmmmm...

I wish I had more to offer. I've used just about all of the methods you listed, and they worked. Maybe the flow on the leather is just too much?

I'd not even waste my time trying to get a leather onto a frag plug. Most, if not all of these softy corals get far too large to worry about putting them on such a small footprint.

As far as the toothpick method goes, I have had a LOT of luck doing the following.... Find a piece of LR with a nice hole in it, or, just drill one in there. Take a toothpick and glue it straight up and down on the rock, like an upside down "T". Then pierce the leather onto the toothpick and use additional dental floss to tie it down.

D

[Rob]

i agree, go for rocks, not plugs, but thats besides the point..
i have always done fine with loose rubberband right over the top in an area with low water flow.

some people use wedding veil over top to hold it to the rock, i believe this is the recommended approach given by GARF

[EddieP]

I've used this method with some success:

Get some fine guage hypodermic needles (just the needles, give the syringes to some junkie friends. jk.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Just Kidding" class="inlineimg" /> ). Take some wide rubber bands and cut them up into little sections so thatyou have little squares of rubber band. Thread a square piece of rubber band to every needle. Take some live rock rubble and place your frag on it and puncture the frag and pin it against the rock then slide the rubber square down so that it helps hold it against the the rock. Place it where its going to get continuous but gentle flow, maybe near a spray bar and keep an eye on it.

Hope this helps

[lReef lKeeper]

it sounds like there is to much flow on them. i have 7 leather frags in my frag tank, that i used the fishing line method on ... and they all attatched to the plugs within a week. the key is not to leave the slack in the line. they have to be snug ... the line will slowly cut through them when they start growing out, but wont hurt them at all.
when i attatch leathers, i take the frag ... and about 1/8 " up from the edge that i want to attatch (usually a cut edge) i pierce it with a sewing needle and fishing line, and somewhat tightly tie it around the plug. hope this helps some.
i wish i could get my camera to trasfer to my computer, i have a video of the whole process on it !!