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dead rock


stylaster

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Are you in a big hurry? I have a couple of fairly big pieces I made 4 or 5 weeks ago. I think it will need 3 or 4 weeks more to be ready though.

 

If you made it a month ago, good luck with having it ready by next month.

 

It depends on the cement that you use. If you use the grey cement from Home Depot, it can take up to 9 months to cure. I made some LAST summer, that I just started selling in April. :( It took a long time.

 

I found that white cement can take a lot less time to cure, only a few months.

 

I also found that if you leave it outside for a couple of months so it gets rained on, or sprinkler with a hose on it so that it stays wet but exposed to the air that it cures faster. Then once it has sat in the air for about 6-8 weeks, then I put it in fresh water for a month, then in salt water (old tank water from a water change) for another month/ It is important to heat the water, and have circulation. Once all of this has happend, I put in a couple of damsel fish. The fish start making it bioactive, and get the bacteria population going to make a bio-film all over the rock.

 

The air part is the important part. The rock absorbs carbon dioxide out of the air as part of the curing process. It helps turn the calcium hydroxide (hydrated lime) into calcium carbonate.

 

dsoz

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