The Ultimate DIY Rocks! - Page 5

speckled trout · #**101** 11/02/2006, 03:48 PM

That really bites. Sorry for your losses.

I hope you get everything figured out.

Travis L. Stevens · #**102** 11/02/2006, 03:52 PM

Me, too. If the new light doesn't do it, I'll just tear it down with what I have and start again from scratch. I'll put the corals in a seperate tank and see if that has any effect.

JOSEPHLB · #**103** 11/03/2006, 02:33 PM

I purchased my materials for DIY rocks yesterday afternoon, and got my hands dirty and did some quick experimenting.
Bought some Portland Type I/II cement and a couple of bags of water softener (Same stuff Travis Stevens has posted in his photos)

Grabbed a cheap mop bucket, wooden hobby dowel rods, cheap powerhead, and 20 gallon "kuring" tote from Walmart.

This is the beginning to my journey of getting my SW tank planned and I've never done anything similiar to this before.
After about an hour, it seems the optimal ratio (my opinion) for salt/cement is about 2>2.5:1. I tried 3:1, but it didn't appear to hold up right.

JOSEPHLB · #**104** 11/03/2006, 02:33 PM

I purchased my materials for DIY rocks yesterday afternoon, and got my hands dirty and did some quick experimenting.
Bought some Portland Type I/II cement and a couple of bags of water softener (Same stuff Travis Stevens has posted in his photos)

Grabbed a cheap mop bucket, wooden hobby dowel rods, cheap powerhead, and 20 gallon "kuring" tote from Walmart.

This is the beginning to my journey of getting my SW tank planned and I've never done anything similiar to this before.
After about an hour, it seems the optimal ratio (my opinion) for salt/cement is about 2>2.5:1. I tried 3:1, but it didn't appear to hold up right.

Flusher · #**105** 11/05/2006, 02:23 AM

Here's my trick to make very strong and very porous rock.

I use a 3:1 ratio first. Afte a couple days, I apply a top coat of plain cement of varying cement/water mix. A wetter cement mix fills in the gaps better, but a drier cement mix leaves a nice texture, and it allows holes to form between the clumps of cement that I drip over the rock. The mix of textures on the surface also looks really nice.

One of my larger pieces of rock toppled off my work table this evening. It fell about 24" onto a concrete floor. It didn't break. Most of my rock is soaking in water right now, and I've had no problems with it crumbling apart. The insides are definitely leeching out salt, as water pours out of the rock when I pull it out of the water tub. The water tastes salty and gritty, too.

I'm going to drill out areas where the surface got more cement than I had anticipated. I tried drilling a test piece of rock; it works well. This will allow greater surface porosity, it will let the rock kure better, and it will still leave me with a very strong batch of rocks.

As mentioned in my earlier post, I made three levels of interlocking rock. There are eight pieces in total, and they fit together snugly. Here are some updated pictures of my rock. The pictures were taken before adding the final touches on the front top rock, and before I started soaking them. They're wet from the water sprayer I used on them liberally a few times daily for a week or two:

This is the back side, where it wraps around my overflow:

Flusher · #**106** 11/05/2006, 02:28 AM

I forgot to mention:

Just as a reference, the base of this rock covers roughly a 20" x 18" footprint. It's going in a 24" x 20" x 18" H tank, eventually (I still need to make the tank).

The two bottom pieces (the largest of the bunch) weighed 15 lb. each before I started soaking them. I'm going to weigh all the pieces once they're kured to see how much lighter they really are.

ROR · #**107** 11/06/2006, 12:06 AM

I have molded this rock formation in 2 pieces. What can I bond the 2 together with? If I add hydrated lime to my Portland sand mix would make a good bonding mortar for this?

Flusher · #**108** 11/06/2006, 01:30 AM

Ooo, nice rock ROR.

I used plain Portland cement to bond a few pieces back together. It worked great.

Rhodophyta · #**109** 11/06/2006, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ROR
I have molded this rock formation in 2 pieces. What can I bond the 2 together with? If I add hydrated lime to my Portland sand mix would make a good bonding mortar for this?

Why do you want to bond them together? If they are unstable, I'd add a latex fortifier as a bonding agent to your mortar, or drill matching holes in each piece and insert sections of acrylic rod or PVC pipe to stick them together like tinkertoys.

Travis L. Stevens · #**110** 11/06/2006, 09:54 AM

Very nice everyone keep up the good work and keep on taking pictures.

ROR · #**111** 11/06/2006, 10:15 AM

I am going to use acrylic rod as well as mortar to hold it together. It is a tall piece, and of course will be very unstable if it is not well connected, as well as pinned to the base.

leeweber85 · #**112** 11/08/2006, 09:59 PM

How low does the PH need to get before it's ready to put in the tank? I made some frag discs and they've been curing for about 2 months. The PH still reads 8.4 -9

Travis L. Stevens · #**113** 11/09/2006, 10:21 AM

Ideally, 8.3. But I've used rocks with a pH of 8.6+ with no side effects. Your milage may vary.

tslabaugh · #**114** 11/10/2006, 07:48 PM

I started my DIY rock tonight... Glad I did it in the garage as it turned out to be messy! I made about 8-10 pieces of 5-8" rock. Hopefully it turns out! I ended up using this salt:

http://www.unitedsalt.com/usc/produc...ocument&Click=

It is about the same size as the stuff Travis is using.

How do you guys make big pieces? I couldn't make pieces much bigger than what my hands could support so I would lay the piece in salt and try to form another piece in with the first piece to make a bigger one.

I'll probably get a little more creative with it later on, I just had to try it out tonight. I don't even have a tank yet!

jy544 · #**115** 11/10/2006, 09:20 PM

Quote:

[i]

How do you guys make big pieces? I couldn't make pieces much bigger than what my hands could support so I would lay the piece in salt and try to form another piece in with the first piece to make a bigger one.

I'll probably get a little more creative with it later on, I just had to try it out tonight. I don't even have a tank yet!

[/B]

Do you have a pic? It sounds like it could be to wet. The dryer the mixture the easier it was for me to form.

Flusher · #**116** 11/10/2006, 10:00 PM

A dry mix is also more porous, and leaves larger holes between the clumps.

tslabaugh · #**117** 11/10/2006, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Do you have a pic? It sounds like it could be to wet. The dryer the mixture the easier it was for me to form.

Nah, I don't have a pic. It might have been a little bit too wet, but at times it seemed like it would just fall apart when it was dry. Hopefully it doesn't fall apart when it dries. I guess the mixture just takes a lil practice.

JOSEPHLB · #**118** 11/11/2006, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tslabaugh
I started my DIY rock tonight... Glad I did it in the garage as it turned out to be messy! I made about 8-10 pieces of 5-8" rock. Hopefully it turns out! I ended up using this salt:

http://www.unitedsalt.com/usc/produc...ocument&Click=

It is about the same size as the stuff Travis is using.

How do you guys make big pieces? I couldn't make pieces much bigger than what my hands could support so I would lay the piece in salt and try to form another piece in with the first piece to make a bigger one.

I'll probably get a little more creative with it later on, I just had to try it out tonight. I don't even have a tank yet!

I mix mine in a mop bucket. I then, just dump it all out onto my salt mold. Dump as much as needed for whatever size you want. I find that just dumping it out makes nice peaks also.

JOSEPHLB · #**119** 11/11/2006, 07:55 PM

I'll be doing a water change tomorrow on my currently "kuring" DIY rocks. I've noticed a few of them seem a little brittle. I'm going to make some more; add a little more cement.

I'll shoot some photos and post my results.

blakeoe · #**120** 11/11/2006, 08:02 PM

If you add new rocks to a batch that has been soaking for a while will the old rocks still be ready before the new or will they be ready at the same time?

JOSEPHLB · #**121** 11/12/2006, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by blakeoe
If you add new rocks to a batch that has been soaking for a while will the old rocks still be ready before the new or will they be ready at the same time?

I think it would throw your pH readings off if you went to test it, since the new rocks will be leaching more than your "almost kured" rock.

blakeoe · #**122** 11/12/2006, 11:58 PM

true. but im really just trying to figure out if it will prolong the old rocks from being ready. i can just soak a few pieces in a seperate bucket over night to test it. I plan on making another batch and it would be really inconvenient to have another huge container in the yard. but i also don't want to start the wait time over.

blakeoe · #**123** 11/15/2006, 11:19 PM

anyone heard of thorite cement? I saw a guy using it who claims it dries in 6 hours and can be put in the tank shortly after.

Rhodophyta · #**124** 11/16/2006, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by blakeoe
anyone heard of thorite cement? I saw a guy using it who claims it dries in 6 hours and can be put in the tank shortly after.

http://www.thoroproducts.com/pdf_appl/appl_thorite.pdf

http://www.damtitewaterproofing.com/...p?colName=4071

http://www.minerals.net/mineral/sili...on/thorite.htm

I'm sure there is no connection between Thorite the brand name and thorite the mineral. But I have both in the URLS and a similar concrete product to Thorite.

lildraken · #**125** 11/16/2006, 09:19 AM

Here are pics of my rocks if anybody cares.

They consist of 1:2:1 sand:rock salt

ortland cement respectively. It took them 10 weeks to cure, but I did not realize until after the 6th week that south florida tap water has a pH out of range of my test kit. I did not start adding vinegar to the water until after 6 weeks.

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