Quote:
Originally posted by lildraken
Rhodophyta, quick question if you may. In the hyperlink you provided for latex forifyers, I could only find a product that is an acrylic fortifyer. Same thing? Do you use this product in the mixture before you form the rocks or do you seal the rocks after they've hardened?
I've been trying to Kure my DIY rocks for 8 weeks now and the pH is still very high. There's so many pages to this thread. I think I've read somewhere that someone added vinegar to the water to kure it or did I imagine that?
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Acrylic fortifiers are what I'm talking about. I incorrectly called them latex, a common faux pas since they smell just like latex paint. They are added to the dry mix replacing about half of the water, before the rocks are made. Kuring is a made up word, only known on this thread. Kuring = cleaning. It is easier to spell than neutralizing or leaching, the two cleaning processes really going on after the concrete begins to cure or harden. Neutralizing happens when an acid like vinegar or muriatic acid is poured over the rock. Leaching happens with water changes, whether continuous like in a stream, or periodic like in the tank of a toilet, or set out in the yard in a rainy climate, all mentioned earlier in this thread or it's splitoff. I'm sure the invented word was intended to reduce confusion between the hardening/curing process and our attempt to clean off excess alkalinity in the next step. It think it seems to be confusing more people than it has helped. All we are doing is cleaning the rock so it can be used, and cleaning has two general approaches leaching and neutralizing.
Old aquarium water seems to be a good choice to clean the rocks. The more mulm the better. After you have leached or neutralized the rock for a while, you can add old aquarium water, and then add plain household ammonia. Once the ammonia has all converted to nitrate, rinse them off with more old aquarium water, and test them again before use. The ammonia does not clean the rock but it does encourage the growth of thigmotrophic bacteria, the good ones we want anyway. They seal off the rock and naturalize it.