Quote:
Originally posted by michaelalan
Insane reefer has stated earlier that some rocks made with salt may fail. I am sorry to say that I am experiencing some of this now. These rocks have been in my aquarium about 6 months now. They are not crumbling, but splitting down the middle.
I’m going to list the various methods I used to reduce the pH so that if someone else ends up with this problem and used similar techniques then we can figure out the variable that is causing the splitting.
One piece was attached to a piece of live rock to make it level and therefore it has a small amount of weight on it. It is splitting down the middle in two different areas.
The other rock is simply a round piece with no other rocks or weight on it. It’s splitting long ways.
In curing these I boiled them and or added 10% vinegar to the solution to reduce pH.
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Quote:
Originally posted by: Insane Reefer
MichaelAlan, that is a complete and utter boo
Could we get some pictures of that?
Though I might go out on a limb and say that it might be possible that boiling the rock in acid might have been a bit of overkill...
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Not Boo
I can vouch for this. I made some DIY rock 1.5 years ago and it has crumbled and cracked. After playing with the mixes I feel it is a combo of 2 much salt and not allowing the concrete to cure properly before trying to Kure for ph. I will try to get pics up tonight when I get off work. IMO the rock crumbled because of a improper cure then Kure. The rocks that split was more directly related to how the salt lined up and made a weak area and the improper cure to Kure timing took care of the rest.
I have since made new rock following the ideas on this thread and used less salt and after 6 months it looks great. I also used Thorite cement per mrwilson to attack some live rock to my concrete. since it was a small amount of cement I kept the rock damp,waited till it cured and put it right back in the tank.