DIY Live Rock

[mylittleocean]

Anyone ever tried the DIY rock? I have done it before but the rock was a little dence. I have read a few other ways to do it sence then. Ex. adding noodles, straw, oyster shells, ect. I would like to get together as a group sometime to make some.
The rock will need to cure for 30 days to bring the Ph down.
One bag of concrete would be enought for a few meets.
Everyone bring a couple of containers, sand/agronite, and what other ingredients they want. This way everyone can carry it back home to cure. 5 gallon buckets work get for curing, cycle out water every few days - a week. Plastic trays or styrofoam boxes work great for making the rock. More details if needed.

What are your thoughts?

[twokayaks]

Sounds good to me. However I don't think you'll get much of a response from other members. Most of them already have established tanks with live rock. This would probably only be of interest to those of us just starting their setup.

Congratulations on your wedding. Hope everything went smoothly.

[mjcraney]

How long would this rock need to cure before adding to a no t so established tank , 6 month, with a few new corals.

[mylittleocean]

around 30 days depending on how often you change the curing water out. this reduces ph from the fresh rock.

[marietrg]

I'd be interested in trying this just for fun

[loudog]

I want to join too.

I plan on making some also, I'm looking for a recipe for the DIY live rock, do you have one? ( pruven one)?

Lewis

[waterlily]

I think it would be fun too, even though I don't need any. Would ice cubes work to make holes in the rock, or would they melt before the concrete gets hard?

[mylittleocean]

Ice cubes should work just fine. Water doesnt hurt the curing process. Actually concrete is stronger when cured in water.

Portland cement is what we want. Unfortunatly it only comes in 90 lb. bags. We could fill up a house with LR with 90 lbs.

Everyone would need to bring their own mix (sand, crushed coral, oyster shell, pasta, straw, ..............)
And boxes to cary the LR molds home to cure. Plastic or styrofoam would be the best. Best being styrofoam boxes.

We can do it at my house at the looks like Nov. meeting. :(
They house is getting closer even though it was suppose to be done Sept 29. :( One more week they say.......

I *%^5^$# up the in wall opening for my tank last night. When and picked up some drywall today to repair. My steel stand is 1/8" too wide. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!. I have to rip out the 1/2" drywall on each side of the archway and replace it with 3/8" and this should do it. I swear everything seems to be just a little to big here lately (faucet, refrig, ect.)

Anyway I am getting way off topic here so I will go.

Happy Reefing

[loudog]

do you have a recipe for the diy blive rock. I dont live any where near you so I won't be able to attend.

I want to make some rock and plugs from egg creats.

Thank you
Lewis

[Gamefightr]

i dont know how much id trustthis stuff to become 'live' in any speedy amount of time. but it may.

one thing i can suggest as a big do it yourself'er- if ur gonna make this stuff, once it dries- get a good drill bit with a very small diameter but long ( i have several if someone wants me to come do this) drill the living heck out of it.

the holes will make it substantially more 'porous' or give it the same effect. also it will increase the surface area within the deep sections of the rock. if yall want ive got a drill thats pretty good and a bunch of good bits as well as a dremel im handy with, so if you want the rock made a certain shape or modified i can help out with that too.

[mylittleocean]

www.garf.org
go to How to movies and How to pages.

Some pretty cool stuff there.

In 6 months I couldnt tell the difference between DIY rock and Live rock. DIY rock must be seeded with real Live rock in order to become live.

Holes are a good idea. I have also heard of people using organic materials (Cheerios, pasta, ice cubes). During the curing process the organic material 'rots' and you are left with rock and voids, cracks and crevaces. Hell, why not chemorpha (sp.?). I have to clean some out every month anyway. Anybody have grape colupra? (again my spelling is not the best)


Side note..... I switched out the 1/2 with 3/8" drywall and the stand fits. YIPEE!! Pulled it back out and spackeled. Will have the tank and stand installed by Mon. hopefully. Test run by the end of the week. I will build the cabinets next week too.

[Gamefightr]

ya i dont know how i feel about having pasta rot inside my rock. you gotta figure at the level of randomness at which this stuff compiles when you start stirring it, the parts that rot may never touch the water- or worse the rock may slolwly deteriorate allowing the rotted material to escape later.

i think mechanically creating the holes is better- if you're gonna mechanically create landscape i'd just go completely mechanical- i think in the long run it would be safer.

If you wanted to- you could draw out almost exactly what you want your aquascape to look like, measure, and make a mold, and just use one or two giant pieces with caves, crevices, whatnot, and fill the tank

[GettingFiesty]

I thought I read less water in the mix and crushed oyster shell (which is hard to find) or crushed coral helps keep it more porous. I am also getting ready to try a batch so keep me posted on how it goes!!!!

[marietrg]

A while back I bought some "Paradise rock" at fish safari. I think this is basically DIY rock that they were selling for $2.99. It seemed to work pretty well in my tank.

[comatose]

Ive made DIY live rock in the past, i find the best ratio is 6 to 1, when i first started i did a 3 to 1 ratio and the rock took forever to cure.
here is my ratio i use now:
4 parts southdown sand
2 or 3 parts crushed coral
1 part portland cement
mix well before adding water
dont make very thick pieces or it will take longer to cure also

[GettingFiesty]

I did learn that crushed oyster shell should not be used. Sorry for the wrong info.

[loudog]

I've read that you could use crushed oyster shell. I think I read it at garf.org



Thanks for the info comatose!

[loudog]

comatose

I did notice that You didn't use crushed oyster shells, any resone way?

[GettingFiesty]

Look in Ron's forum, I asked him why and he explained it.

[reef10]

My experience:
I have used crushed osyter shell to good effect however the surface does not have the smoother look of imported rock. This also makes fraging things like Zoanthids harded because they imbed more. This is a pure asthetic reason and this rock resides in the tank now.

I tried one batch will noodles and will not do that again. The noodles rot into a black nasty clump that is hard to remove even from the surface of the rock much less what is totally encased. I even tried to put it in a bucket of ASW with things like bristle worms to eat that junk to no good effect. I never allowed this rock in the tank.

The rocks make mostly from sand and portland cement seemed to be the best looking overall but they may also be weaker.

[jake2045]

I have made DIY rock and still have it in my tank,I believe something like 8 years now. I did use oyster shell the second time but I think it made the rock weaker then just using coral sand and portland cement. My DIY rock looks great, hard press to tell it from the real thing. I do however like the idea of ice cube but I think they would melt before the rock set up.

[Gamefightr]

all pet at hilltop has something called reef rock for sale. looks like diy or
dead live rock to me. 2 bucks a pound.

[ItsMee]

I am assuming that DIY rock that has been fully cured and seeded with growth on it affects the water in the same way that the natural live rock does? - Could you go Berlin with 99% DIY rock in your tank?

[Gamefightr]

go berlin? it would have to be seeded with a lot of live rock, or it would take forever for the bacteria to spread. even with a lot it takes a while.

[ItsMee]

So its possible but would take....what, a year? 2? 3?

[ItsMee]

The above question obviously depends on how much rock...lets say for instance 60 LBS?