The Ultimate DIY Rocks! - Page 3

Travis L. Stevens · #51 05/16/2006, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by humboldt reefer
How large is the grain size of the salt your using? You could have a bunch of hollow pockets in the rock that's causing it to float. I made some yesterday and some today. I havent put yesterdays in the water yet. hope they dont float. the average size of the salt I used was probably 3/16 - 1/4"

That's about the grain size that I had. I just recently made a new batch. They sat outside for a week and were rained heavily upon. The pans that they were on were filled with salt that had melted and collected in the bottom. I immidiately thought of itstheantitang's problem. But I went to soak them in the tub anyways. Sure enough, they sank right to the bottom. Itstheantitang has a real unique problem.

humboldt reefer · #52 05/16/2006, 11:23 AM

I did the same thing. instea of sand made all my rocks in a tub of salt

It's turning out sweet cant wait to get it in my tank. When I get the main struccture all cemented together I'll post some pics.

Travis L. Stevens · #53 05/16/2006, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by humboldt reefer
I did the same thing. instea of sand made all my rocks in a tub of salt It's turning out sweet cant wait to get it in my tank. When I get the main struccture all cemented together I'll post some pics.

That sounds great. I can't wait to see what other people have been doing.

rstark33 · #54 05/16/2006, 12:10 PM

Quick question. What about the pieces of salt that are completely embedded inside the rock? Will these dissolve at all? Or do we have a little salt mine in the rock waiting for some creature to bore deep enough into the rock to release this salt?
Would it be damaging to our system if these salts slowly leaked into our system over a few years?
Rich

Travis L. Stevens · #55 05/16/2006, 12:15 PM

About 95% of the salt dissolves out of the rock. The left over salt will not harm your marine aquarium, per Randy Holmes-Farley (I wish I didn't delete that PM now)

WIJAONKA · #56 05/16/2006, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by humboldt reefer
I did the same thing. instea of sand made all my rocks in a tub of salt It's turning out sweet cant wait to get it in my tank. When I get the main struccture all cemented together I'll post some pics.

Humboltd-

Did you mix any salt into the cement, or did you just replace the tub full of sand with with a tub full of salt? I ask because I'm starting this weekend on my first batch of rocks. The 'salt mold' idea sounds pretty interesting!

Thanks,

W

WIJAONKA · #57 05/16/2006, 06:58 PM

Oh, yeah.

I got Morton's Rock Salt (for water softeners, etc). The bag says that the salt is 99.5% pure. Is this safe for 'rocking'?

Thanks,

W

humboldt reefer · #58 05/16/2006, 07:13 PM

I actually took a couple of 2"-3" chunks of regular salt and put them in the middle of the last rocks I made. But other than that its just rocksalt and cement.
As for the salt I dont know. I'd try to find out exactly what that extra .5% is.

Travis L. Stevens · #59 05/17/2006, 08:44 AM

that extra .5% should be reef safe. I can tell you it's definitely not copper

The Morton's Rock Salt should work fine. The Rock Salt I used is probably the same thing, just repacked for something specific and double the price. Typical commercialism

When I find a bulk source for Rock Salt, I'll let everyone know.

WIJAONKA · #60 05/17/2006, 05:57 PM

Thanks!!

I'm going to try a batch this weekend (just rock salt & cement).

Then I will try noodles (pasta), with it, and so forth. I'll post pics here once I start. I hope that's okay. I'm not trying to jack your thread.

Thanks,

W

adnup · #61 05/17/2006, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by WIJAONKA
Okay, The rocks look GREAT!!

I live in Las Vegas where the popular type of Portland Cement is Type V.

My question is this:

Does the cement 'type' make any difference in creating rocks? I understand that it needs to be 'portland', but does it have to be type I??

Thanks,

W

I didnt read a clear answer to this question. I was in depot today and found sommething that said it was type 1 & 2 portland cement. Do you think this will be ok?

joelowrider · #62 05/17/2006, 06:44 PM

why not just buy reef bones to put in

Travis L. Stevens · #63 05/18/2006, 08:22 AM

Type 1 and Type 2 work. I used type 1 and prefer it.

joel, this allows you to make any shape you want for a fraction of the cost. $0.50/lb for custom rock or $2/lb for base rock

Travis L. Stevens · #64 05/18/2006, 01:17 PM

UPDATE

With my second batch of this rock, I made a one-piece rock structure for a 2g Cube that's going in my office. It weighed ~7lbs* before I put it in the water. We'll see how heavy it is in about 4 weeks.

*Note: My scales are digital and are in 1/2lb intervals

onetrickpony · #65 05/18/2006, 01:30 PM

we need pictures

Travis L. Stevens · #66 05/18/2006, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by onetrickpony
we need pictures

Their on my camera sitting at home. I forgot to pick it up today. It might be next week before I get to load them up.

acidlittle · #67 05/18/2006, 02:48 PM

Hey travis, when you used noodles did you think of cooking the noodles first then putting them in the mixture? This way they have already soaked up the water and are going to decompose a little faster. Maybe try that with rock salt and see what kinda shapes and pours you get in some rock. I am going to start some rock in a couple months and might try the cooked noodles and rock salt in my mixture... We shall see!

Great thread!
Josh

Travis L. Stevens · #68 05/18/2006, 02:59 PM

I never thought of doing that, but I can only guess that the noodles would get torn up in the mixing and forming process and then just be unneccessary organic matter. Plus, the rock salt makes it so porous, you really don't need noodles.

FWIW, I won't use raw noodles again unless something ingenious comes around to use them

joelowrider · #69 05/18/2006, 03:23 PM

when you do this do you still have to add live rocks for the filtration or is this just to bulk up the tank

Travis L. Stevens · #70 05/18/2006, 03:24 PM

I add a few pieces of live rock to give it the bacteria culture and other small invertebrates that come in on it

acidlittle · #71 05/18/2006, 03:48 PM

Good point. I may try a small batch just to see how it would work. MIght just have to be real gentle!

Josh

BWilfong · #72 05/18/2006, 04:27 PM

I did add a cup of Marine salt to my mix, do not know if it actually helped or not but it did make the mix thicker and easier to work with.

itstheantitang · #73 05/18/2006, 08:29 PM

The salt I used was the Safe-T morton salt found at a gas station. Its said on the back it could be used in ice cream making, an I have crushed one of the rocks and there was no salt left inside.

Anyway, the rocks are sinking more, but underwater they still will float up one corner. This shouldn't be a problem, because I might skewer the rocks with PVC, or (and am planning to) stack LR on top of it.

Some rocks floated from the beginning, others sank from the beginning.

This should all work out. Thanks for the recipe.

Travis L. Stevens · #74 05/19/2006, 08:15 AM

No problem. I'm glad things are starting to settle down with your rocks. Don't forget the pictures

Covey · #75 05/19/2006, 09:53 PM

So three pages long and no ones got any more pictures yet. I can fix that. I made my first batch today.

Here some of the cooler looking ones.

I don't exact know the mix I used but it was one 94lbs bag of portland and 2 40 lbs bags of Morton's water softener rock rock salt