180Brandy Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Impur did you get your rock cured yet? We must have did something wrong when we made our rock. Since February when it was made,still shows no signs of coraline only green algae. (scratch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Very cool. So you say you can make 500 pounds of rock for how much money? Looks like a fun project. Like making mud pies when you were a kid : ) Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronjunior Posted December 2, 2007 Share Posted December 2, 2007 Impur did you get your rock cured yet? We must have did something wrong when we made our rock. Since February when it was made' date='still shows no signs of coraline only green algae. (scratch)[/quote'] I remember the GARF recipe calls for using plastic shaving in their recipe since it helps with the coraline growth. I'm sure a plastic shop would have no problem giving floor sweepings away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted December 3, 2007 Author Share Posted December 3, 2007 I have a couple rocks still kuring, i'm still getting a pH of about 9 in my kuring bucket, so i can't really comment on how algaes will grow on them yet Brandy. Sorry. I will definately update this once they go into my tank though. Jay - yah i bet you could get 500+lbs easy from the supplies i have. Total cost is right around $50 for all the stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 So when you mixed all the stuff you just did it in a wheelbarrel then made the rocks by hand. I am going to try it. I have a heated shop behind my garage where I can make it this winter on those rainy snowy days. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Please keep me posted!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted December 3, 2007 Author Share Posted December 3, 2007 So when you mixed all the stuff you just did it in a wheelbarrel then made the rocks by hand. I am going to try it. I have a heated shop behind my garage where I can make it this winter on those rainy snowy days. Jay I used a 5gal bucket, but same thing. I mixed up all the dry ingredients first except the salt. Then i started to mix in the water until i got the consistancy i wanted. Finally i added the salt, gave it another mix and started to build the rock in another 5gal bucket. I just took handfuls of the mixture and molded the rock bit by bit. Brandy - someone just asked the same coralline question on the RC thread. Here is the response from Insane Reefer, the lady whose been the main contributor to the thread: I find that pink coralline growth can be non-existent for the first few months, but usually picks up by the 4th to 6th month. Green coralline usually starts up fairly quick, and I can have a 75% coverage of that in a few months. As long as you can see bug and worm life in the new rock, I wouldn't start to worry - bugs wouldn't live in it if it was "bad" rock, though it may not have been quite fully kured, which could lead to the lack of growth. If it was still a little "hot" pH-wise, your system could have buffered it so you didn't show any problems, but the rock might have been too high in pH for coralline to like it much. Just a thought, but if your system is growing coralline that well and it isn't growing on the rocks, that would be my guess. Here is a link to the HUGE thread if you want to follow along, its about to split for the 3rd time i think so plenty of reading lol: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1156212&perpage=25&pagenumber=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Its been about 10 months and all we seem to be getting is green algae and this grape vine bubble stuff. I thought we did something wrong when making the rock. I was just wondering if you had better luck with your rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted December 4, 2007 Author Share Posted December 4, 2007 Hmmm, what ingredients did you use? I hope to get 2 of my rocks into the tank by the end of this month. I'll let you know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 I have had my DIY rock soaking for 1 or 2 months... It still has a pH that is off the scale on the high end. I replace the water every day or three. I have even used vinegar and muriatic acid a couple of times to see if that would help to bring the pH of the rock down to "normal sea water." It lasted a couple of days at a low pH, then it shot back up and stayed high. I was using mortar mix (like for masonry), not straight cement. The only difference is that mortar mix already has sand in it. Then I added rock salt, CC and dry aragonite to the mix. I don't think that the rock that I have made will be ready for a couple of months at least. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newreefer02 Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 This is an awsome idea! I would like to try this out myself. Although a longer wait to get everything going i think it will be well worth it and save LOTS of money in the long run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 I did just what Dsoz did as far as what I mixed together. I didn't try the vinegar or muriatic acid. Ph is good but so is the algae... (scratch) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted December 5, 2007 Author Share Posted December 5, 2007 I have had my DIY rock soaking for 1 or 2 months... It still has a pH that is off the scale on the high end. I replace the water every day or three. I have even used vinegar and muriatic acid a couple of times to see if that would help to bring the pH of the rock down to "normal sea water." It lasted a couple of days at a low pH, then it shot back up and stayed high. I was using mortar mix (like for masonry), not straight cement. The only difference is that mortar mix already has sand in it. Then I added rock salt, CC and dry aragonite to the mix. I don't think that the rock that I have made will be ready for a couple of months at least. dsoz I don't know how you mixed up the ingredients, but a wetter mixture will take longer to hydrate(cure/kure). If you can find Qwikrete Qwikwall locally, its a fast setting cement that will be ready to into the tank much faster. I think its used for patching and such. In the RC thread i linked there are several pictures of rocks made from qwikwall. I tried to locate some, but the closest place i found was in California. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 I was experimenting with what I had on hand. I just finished rebuilding my chimney and I had 2/3 of a bag of mortar mix just lying around... Why not try my hand at making rock... Now I have a 10g tank full of DIY rock that will eventually be good for building up the base of my LR or used in my sump. Someday I will try this again and do it the right way with portland cement, sand, and larger rocksalt. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Bob Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Hmmm, what ingredients did you use? I hope to get 2 of my rocks into the tank by the end of this month. I'll let you know how it goes. We used Type II portland cement and crushed oyster shells. We cured is in buckets for about a month and a half until the PH dropped to about 8.0 and then transfered it to saltwater in our new tank last spring. After that we didn't have any PH issues, but for about the next 2-3 months the measured Ca levels were greater than 700ppm. Since about last May the Ca and PH have been maintained at reasonable levels. Since that time we have had on and off algae issues and it has been impossible to keep any SPS's alive. The LPS's that we have had either stagnated or slowly died. During this time ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, Cu have all been at unmeasurable levels using Salifert test kits. We have also had some live rock in the tank, that was supposed to seed the DIY rock. What I noticed was that there was much more algae growth on the DIY rock, essentially no coralline growth. About two weeks ago we finally gave up on the DIY rock and removed it all along with the 2" sand bed that we had. We noticed an almost immediate improvement in all of the corals in the tank. The Hammerhead that was barely extended now extends 2-3", our blastmosa has sprouted a new head etc. I'm not sure what was going on, but things are much happier without the DIY rock. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted December 11, 2007 Author Share Posted December 11, 2007 Thats too bad Bob. I know your rocked looked great. You might stick it in a storage bin in the garage or something in some SW and a pump, just to see if that helps. Can't hurt anything, and you might be able to salvage it. I wonder if yours was just too dense/thick? Possibly the middle of the rock is still going thru the process. Cement can take something like 10 years to fully hydrate, i'm sure thats an extreme case but the thicker the rock the longer it will take. Your elevated CA levels lead me to believe the process isn't yet done with your rock. You could also try breaking it up into smaller pieces. Once you are certain that its completely cured it would be easy to piece it back together with some epoxy or something along those lines. I'm just tossing ideas out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 Your probably right. I bet it was too thick and was still leaching out stuff. We did have some pretty big pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted December 11, 2007 Author Share Posted December 11, 2007 Yah, don't toss it. Stick it in a bin on the back patio or something. Let the rain do WCs on it for the winter and try again come spring I've got my rocks in buckets out back. The rain does the work and saves my $$ on the water bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Bob Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 I actually think it was cured. The pH and had been pretty stable for about 5-6 months. If I had to guess, we were getting leaching of something, maybe phosphates, maybe some kind of metals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted January 24, 2008 Share Posted January 24, 2008 Have you added your DYI rock it to your tank yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted January 24, 2008 Author Share Posted January 24, 2008 No not yet. I don't think i will until i get the cube going. Its still outback in buckets curing. I haven't even tested the pH lately. Hmmmmmm now that i think about it, its been in the 20s overnight all week. I wonder if the frozen water in the bucket and rocks would cause the rocks to crack? hmmmmmmm that would suck. Guess i should check on it. I want to make a bunch more. Hopefully when the weathers warms up i can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 I decided to get the rock out and see how it looks. I've got a ph of about 8.5 in the bucket, so i think its ready to go into the tank anytime. I might give it a couple more weeks, we'll see. Here are some pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 I think i'll use slightly less water in the next rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 Well i went at it again. And as usual i took more pics Got my ingredients My box for molding Dig out my mold and add some texture I threw some salt in to create some more surface area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted June 19, 2008 Author Share Posted June 19, 2008 ready to mix ingredients Then i started dropping small bits into the mold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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