The Ultimate DIY Rocks!

[Insane Reefer]

Originally posted by L98-Z
A bit more expensive than I had imagined.

Yes, Inland is proud of their stuff - but they are just one of several places (but they seem to have a really good selection).

But take something like that eBay auction - for $100 (that is shipped), you get several hundred critters, and no baddies.
This is more than enough for an aquarium up to about 75g...

Or for $100 you could buy about 15lbs of LR and have it shipped (if not locally bought), deal with all the possible things that can go wrong with rock, have unwanted HH's, etc - and probably not get as many living critters, though the variety can be better.

[Mr Bojangles]

I just made a batch of frag plugs and they are curing in my toilet tank, I was wondering about how long I should wait till they are good to use?

[Insane Reefer]

Last batch I did for the LFS took about 2 weeks - it really depends on how often the toilet gets flushed...

[Mr Bojangles]

well I am going as much as I can

[silverwolf72]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...49CIMG0426.jpg
My first week 1:3:1 (Portland, Oyster Shell, Salt)

[silverwolf72]

[kwaters]

I have been pouring over MSDS on this stuff, wondering what the difference was from plain portland cement.

Well, the difference is Quickrete contains portland cement, sand and gravel.

Portland cement comes in 94 lb bags and quickrete in 40, 60 and 80.

I guess my ultimate question is, has anyone tried this before?

Let me know.

Kris

[GuySmilie]

Many people have tried it.
But, it sounds to me that you are under the impression that Quikrete is just one product. In fact Quikrete has several products that contain Portland. What you've described above sounds like one of their 'concrete mixes'. Quikrete company also sells plain Portland as well.
Guy

[kwaters]

Understandable. Quickrete concrete mix is what I was referring to. I just want to make sure it is ok to use it.

Kris

[hplexx]

i use Quickrete concrete mix 2 i did a ten gal. tank when i saw this Diy .... problem is i never use ro/di water do i relly need ro/di water i use tap water all the time fish doing great live rock doing ok!!! in my 75 gal . the 75 and the 10 are connected togher!!!




http://img329.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ethankyrg0.png

[kwaters]

Thats alot of rock! Did you follow the same cure methods, or do it before you saw this post?

I picked up a bag of water softening salt to day from HD. $4.99 for 50 lbs.

Quickcrete $2.39 for 60 lbs.

A lot cheaper then $5 per pound of LR. I got about 45 lbs of LR already (at a much better price than $5/lb) but it is not enough.

Anyway, your coraline looks great. As for the tap, everyone says use RO/DI. My tap is loaded with chlorine so I use RO from my LFS.

Kris

[hplexx]

no i yust left it for 2 days in clorax and then 3 water changes thats it .. its a ten gallong its not that much . its prety heavy doe.
dont have lot of money for ro doe,,..,

[gary faulkner]

Concrete mix is very heavy, not the best option for MM Liverock, IMO

[kwaters]

Understandable. I mixed in quite a bit of the rock salt...made just a small amount today. If it doesn't turn out....it doesn't turn out. I will buy a 94 lb bag of portland!

Kris

[GuySmilie]

If you're going to use sand as an aggregate, why not try a bag of masonry cement? Sand is already mixed into the bag. And the bags are a lot easier to tote around at half the weight of a full bag of Portland.
Guy

[Insane Reefer]

Very nice looking wall, hplexx.
How much rubble did you incorporate into it? Looks like several pounds.

[hplexx]

thanks

i have no idea i yust know i made a one bucket and some sand from the pet store and some few pieaces of live rock tiny pieaces and thats it( all fit in one bucket) yust poring it crazy let try for few day then add water and clorax . then like 3 water changes o and some declore 2

[kwaters]

Originally posted by GuySmilie
If you're going to use sand as an aggregate, why not try a bag of masonry cement? Sand is already mixed into the bag. And the bags are a lot easier to tote around at half the weight of a full bag of Portland.
Guy

I saw this yesterday. I looked at the masonry cement, and there were quite a lot of different types. Can you give me specifics?

I have a long ways to go with my tank (its 9 days old today!) so I am willing to fiddle around a bit.

Kris

[Insane Reefer]

Originally posted by hplexx
...water and clorax...

I take it you mean Clorox bleach? May I ask what this is meant to do for the rock? Just curious - it is the first time I have ever heard of using bleach, unless there are worries of the rock having picked up undesirables from a open waterway...

[Insane Reefer]

Welcome to the thread, Kwaters

Honestly, stick with regular portland, or maybe a quick-set type. Very few here use the many varied cement stuffs you could buy - portland is cheap, and known to be safe. You can add the aggregates you want to use, and not just some unspecified sand or gravel, which any mix will have, and most don't look anything at all like what we want it too.
Not to mention that most of those mixes are significantly more expensive.

HTH

PS - I have a horse too (two in fact) - visit my gallery to see them

[drauka99]

i think someone mentioned in passing that they had soaked their water in a natral waterway and were using bleach to clean it back out and also in hopes (i think) of lightning the color of the rock

[Insane Reefer]

Yes, Drauka, I recall that a while back, but was wondering why hplexx had done it.

[hplexx]

.

[hplexx]

i know you bleach coral . to kill the bad things so i though that would make the cycle more faster and it did . i have like 8 federduster growing in my tank all ready ... so i think im doing good!!! everything looks ok

[GuySmilie]

Originally posted by kwaters

I saw this yesterday. I looked at the masonry cement, and there were quite a lot of different types. Can you give me specifics?

I have a long ways to go with my tank (its 9 days old today!) so I am willing to fiddle around a bit.

Kris

Well, tomorrow when I'm out and about, I'll find the bag and give you a brand name. But I think most masonry cements are probably similar. What I looked for: at the stores there is always a damaged bag leaking on the pallet (hey buddy, whut ya doin with that knife?) . I just checked all brands until I found one where the content was lighter than the others. Different areas of the country mine different shades of Portland. The lower the iron content, the whiter the raw cement. There is not much variance in the color from one brand to the next (unless you specifically buy white Portland which I can not find in my area), but a few appear to be somewhat lighter than the others, which is what I wanted.

Next I looked over the label. Many of them will have a silica health warning, indicating that it contains silica sand. So my pretzel logic says that any bags that do not mention silica are either unlawfully labeled or contain aragonite (or calcium based) sand. Of course everyone is always honest about labeling, right?

By the way, there's no strong reasoning, IMO, to steer clear of silica sand in cement, but since I'm using silica for my sand bed already, I thought it would be nice to have some calcium based elements in the system. Probably wont be, but my conscience has been salved

Again, I did no scientific study on these different brands. Just picked the lightest color available and no silica warnings. Any brand would probably work just fine for you. I steer clear of the cements that use gravel as an aggregate (concrete and a few masonry cements). I don't find those attractive.

Anyway, I need to go check on my latest batch tomorrow, then I can get you a brand name on the cement. Maybe even a few pics of my newest rocks. They've been soaking for around 3 weeks now.
Guy