Agrocrete Man Made Rock - Page 5

blusporttrac · #**101** 01/27/2005, 10:18 AM

Well this post has taken off. I started it with how I built my rock here is my tank with salt water and some real live rock to seed it. If you look carefully you can make out the piece I made way back when.

The nice thing is all my rock has those three legs I built into them so I have a lot of open sand bed even with in the rockwork. No worries about rocks tumbling down the large pieces weight in at 25-35 lbs each and rest on the tempered glass below the sand.
Chad S. AKA Blusporttrac

Jamesurq · #**102** 01/27/2005, 10:38 AM

crikey - I thought I had a lot of rock in my tank!!!

speckled trout · #**103** 01/27/2005, 11:51 AM

I cure mine in a river that runs behind my house. I just put it in a a plastic crate and lower it into the river. I simply go and pick it up in about 3 months and it's ready.

The legs on mine are designed to go through the sand to the plenum. The main structure is supported up off the sand allowing water to flow through and under the structure.

I made my legs by creating holes in the sand/oystershell bedding and pouring the wet mix into them and then building the rest of the structure upwards from there.

I've posted these before, but I thought I'd share them again to those who haven't seen them already.

mikeo1210 · #**104** 01/27/2005, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by speckled trout
I cure mine in a river that runs behind my house. [/IMG]

That looks awesome!

Marcelog · #**105** 01/27/2005, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by speckled trout
I've posted these before, but I thought I'd share them again to those who haven't seen them already.

OK, how much do you charge per pound, and don't forget to include shipping.

I'm serious!

Very nice. You may have just insipred me.

Marcelo -

speckled trout · #**106** 01/27/2005, 03:56 PM

Are we allowed to sell stuff on here?

Jamesurq · #**107** 01/27/2005, 04:05 PM

that's a nice piece - very well done.

Just as an FYI - you'll regret shipping that stuff.

A: Too expensive - once you get it packaged right, it's VERY heavy.
B: It BREAKS - no matter how hard you try, the stuff get's broken and arches and beautiful handcrafted shapes end up as a pile of rubble on the other end.

Otherwise - everyone that made rocks as good as yours would be rich... Trust me.

Paul B · #**108** 01/27/2005, 06:06 PM

Trout. Really nice looking rock. All of mine I either collected in the
Caribbean or I built. In 33 years I never bought any rock and I never will. It is so easy, If people would try they would not have to spend a fortune on rock that does not look better than rock you can build.
Paul

Key Of David · #**109** 01/28/2005, 09:17 PM

Wow you guys have done some excellent sculpting! I just made my first couple of pieces this past week and they SUCK.

But everyone says the first ones are going to anyway. I thought about maybe just buying all LR but you guys have inspired me to keep on making my rock til I get it right!

ItsMee · #**110** 01/30/2005, 01:21 PM

I have a couple of questions about curing:

1. If you let a bucket of water from your tap sit with nothing but the water in it and test the PH, would the PH be higher than what your tap water tests as?

2. When the rock is done curing, should the PH of the water after a week of soaking be that of your tap water's or higher? If higher, what should the PH be when its done curing?

Jamesurq · #**111** 01/30/2005, 02:11 PM

1: Yes.
2: preferably 8.3 or lower.

ItsMee · #**112** 04/21/2005, 11:37 PM

Well my DIY rocks ARE cured! Here are the results!:

GoldStripe · #**113** 04/22/2005, 10:08 AM

blusporttrac your rock looks phoenominal in the tank!! I have made a lot of rock but my skills are still lacking compared to that. How many times have you made batches before you got to this point?

ItsMee · #**114** 06/17/2005, 07:42 PM

Just installed new lighting!!~!

4x96 Current Orbit PC's

Heres some better pics of my DIY rock:

And here is some links to some short clips of my tank...

http://classicalguitar.homeip.net/images/Aquarium.MOV

http://classicalguitar.homeip.net/images/Aquarium2.MOV

rsteagall · #**115** 06/17/2005, 11:45 PM

holy crapola batman! 7MB of pictures!

ItsMee · #**116** 06/18/2005, 12:00 AM

i didnt know how big they were until After I uploaded them...sorry..lol

ItsMee · #**117** 06/19/2005, 10:32 AM

there...thats better

Ladipyg · #**118** 06/23/2005, 05:54 PM

Man, I LOVE this thread...I put my rock outside in the sun in a large rubbermaid container with a powerhead in it and let the water from the hose, set very low, just trickle over it..I set it on a sprinkler timer to go off a couple of times a day...1 hour at a time. .Use a dark container...for some reason the heat speeds up the process....

jdowney · #**119** 10/25/2005, 11:51 AM

Hey ITsMee,

Care to elaborate a little more about your recipe and technique?

Thanks in advance

djacob · #**120** 12/14/2005, 12:25 PM

i am thinking of trying this out , however its winter time here in PA, and would it be bad to have the rock sitting in containers outside full of water in the cold. i will put a bubbler or a powerhead in there to keep the water moving so it wont freeze.

what ya all think?

let me know

thanks
dave

Paul B · #**121** 12/14/2005, 04:59 PM

Newest piece of cement rock. It is about a foot long and all knotted looking. Of course it has only been in the tank a day so it still looks like concrete.
Paul

Aquayne_wv · #**122** 12/19/2005, 09:20 PM

The only White Cement that I can locate in the region that I live is White Morter for bricks.

What is the difference? Can I use it to cast rocks.

I postulate that there is more lime in morter because there is even more lime in Stucco as compared to cement.

Wayne
Aquayne
Logan, WV

GARFVolunteer · #**123** 12/20/2005, 01:04 AM

The Riverside white cement is labeled "Low Alkali". You might be able to find something like that in WV...

Thanks,

Scott