JManrow Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I just called Home Depot for a price on a 90LB. bag of Portland Cement - $8.25 It seems to have doubled in price since 2 or 3 years ago, just like everything else! There may be a better price elsewhere. We should check around to see if anyone has buckets of old crushed coral laying around. Some of our LFS may have some from old setups. Crushed oyster shell (chicken grit) should be still relatively cheap at feed stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill V. Posted April 3, 2009 Author Share Posted April 3, 2009 Coastal Farm and Ranch has Crushed Oyster shells for $11.99 for a 50lb bag and course salt for purifiers for 5.49 for a 50lb bag. I've heard that WHITE portland cement works best for making rocks. not sure where to get that at though. I found portland White cement at Masons Supply in hillsboro for $23.00 for a 94 lb bag. the guy said i can get it without having a contractors license. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 The materials are pretty cheap. We can do a little calculating, but I think we could charge like $5-7 per person if they each bring a 5 gal bucket and assume that they will go home with at least a couple of medium sized pieces of their own design. Part of that charge would simply be for the salt used as forming material. If a person wanted to bring some sand or something else to use for forming, it would be even cheaper. Dennis and I have used normal portland cement, aragonite (sand or crushed coral) and rock salt(water softener) with the best success of the combinations we've tried, though we are still experimenting. I think we've made up about 300-400 lbs worth so far. We've also used thin-set (in place of the portland cement) as an experiment, which worked OK, but I did not like the product as well. Dennis can chime in about whether he likes it. We are also going to try a batch with white cement in the next week or so and see how that goes. Comments about the long cure time are right on. We started making up batches of rock last summer, and have only had one 100 lb batch ready, cured, seeded with bacteria, and sold (YAY!) shortly after the first of the year. For those in more of a hurry, we should have some available for sale in the next month or so. I have a few bigger pieces in my display tank now, and am very pleased with it. Of course, you'd be able to see that in person and judge for yourself if we do the meeting at my place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill V. Posted April 3, 2009 Author Share Posted April 3, 2009 Cost is pretty inexpensive. Most of us should have a bucket or 2 laying around that they can use. I know for the price and time it will take it is worth it to me to make most of what i need and then buy some that is already cured to seed it with. Got to try and save money anywhere i can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Well, the hostess said she'd be happy to have us, so I guess it's up to the powers that be to decide if this is what we want for the monthly meeting, or if I should set up a separate time. John, any word from Leroy on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Coastal Farm and Ranch has Crushed Oyster shells for $11.99 for a 50lb bag and course salt for purifiers for 5.49 for a 50lb bag. I've heard that WHITE portland cement works best for making rocks. not sure where to get that at though. I found portland White cement at Masons Supply in hillsboro for $23.00 for a 94 lb bag. the guy said i can get it without having a contractors license. The mason's supply in clackamas are being brats then. They won't sell to me because I DON'T have a contractor's license. (flame) I do have a friend that has one, I just got to get in before they close. As an addition, I can bring to the meeting a whole lot of rock that is already made and cured. Brian and I have been selling it for only $2/lb. Compared to LR from the store, it is a steal. Let me know before we meet so I can bring it all over to Brian's house. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JManrow Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Well, the hostess said she'd be happy to have us, so I guess it's up to the powers that be to decide if this is what we want for the monthly meeting, or if I should set up a separate time. John, any word from Leroy on this? There is no July meeting scheduled yet. I could see what LeRoy & Sally Jo have planned for July. They are both really great people. They are usually happy to have demos of making "Aragacrete" rocks and fragging. I'm sure they would bring along an assortment of their products such as GARF Grunge, aragonite mud, clean-up crews and more. When in July did you want to do this? You can always do this as a "Meet & Greet" at any time too, if you want. Aragacrete pics. http://www.aragacrete.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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