Tunze Coral Flex is a new product the German company has just released providing a durable yet flexible putty adhesive for attaching coral and rocks in aquariums. The two-part putty is 100% non-toxic to your tank inhabitants, unlike your traditional epoxy sticks that may be considered safe but do add some toxic elements to the water. Tunze isn’t the first to bring this putty to market as Premium Aquatics and Preis Aquaristik have already hit the market with this but the benefit is Tunze having the distribution channel in place to easily bring the product to the global and US market since the main manufacturer of the two components is located in Germany.
To give you a better perspective on how the product works, the two-part epoxy is similar to the product used to make dental molds of your teeth. When you knead the two components together after about a minute the putty begins to stiffen and within two minutes it is setting up. The product does maintain flexibility so if you have a coral that needs a little bit of flexibility to sway — like a gorgonian — Tunze Coral Flex is a perfect choice. While this product will allow quick placement under water, it is recommended that you work on the pieces you want to fix together out of the water to get the strongest bond.
Another great feature of this epoxy would be gluing rock together when aquascaping. Where traditional expoxy stick adhesive becomes hard, the added flexibility of the Tunze Coral Flex will help keep your epoxy bonds from cracking if the rocks shift at all. Tunze Coral Flex retails for $20.44 USD for a 120g container.
Thanks to Mark Callahan for the tip and to Roger Vitko of Tunze USA for more information.
