Would anyone care to see my DIY LiveRock?

[Gnarly Reefer]

I made this rock using a mix of 3.5 parts crushed coral and crushed oyster shell, 1 part portland cement and 1 part southdown sand. Used water balloons & tying balloons to make interesting holes thoughout it, and before it setup completely, took a stick and poked holes through it all. Emmbedded bits of shell to help make it look more natural. Fairly lightweight and porous, even the largest peice (27" X 14" X 5") weighs about 19lbs.
This was my first attempt at doing liverock, and I think it came out ok. What do you think?
If anyone wants closeups, let me know and I can post some.

Thank you for looking,
Gnarly Reefer

[eddie]

nice job
i just redid my 135 gals rockwork it now has about 1/2 crushed oystershell 1/2 fiji

[Project Reef]

Most of the DIY live rock I've seen doesn't look natural at all, there usually isn't enough curvature, bumps , ins and outs to it.

Yours though looks very good for a DIYer.
Nice job.

[Diceman]

Man, that looks like a tird!!! No J/K. It actually looks pretty good!

[Gnarly Reefer]

Different angle

[HydroPhile]

That does look pretty good. Nice job.

[Gnarly Reefer]

Thank you for the compliments!

It was a lot of fun making this rock, but I think my landlord upstairs thinks I am nuts...

I find myself eyeballing the hot tub, thinking, "I bet THAT would speed the curing time!" - just throw some "PH Down" in there and have it cured in half the time ;)

Thank you,
Gnarly Reefer

[eddie]

once the diatoms and green alge go
and the coraline comes
thell look real to me
but whos gonna see the rocks
once you add all those corals
right

[Gnarly Reefer]

Closeup #1

[Gnarly Reefer]

Closeup #2

[Gnarly Reefer]

Closeup #3

[ScottT]

Wow! That's got to be about the best looking diy rock I've seen! Great job!

[rbaker]

Very nice... Best DIY yet. Do you have any close-ups? Can you go into a little more detail on how you made it? I've got a couple of FO tanks that could benefit from a couple of those rocks...

Ryan

[forbze16]

Great looking rock!

What did you use for a mold?

TIA,

Dave

[Wazzel]

Looks nice. I was wondering if you could provide some info like cost per pound, time to build, mold type/cost, etc, etc. Also how do you plan on curing? How lond will it take to get the concrete to stablize? I would like to give it a try also.

Thanks

Mark

[pjr]

I have a few shelves from GARF in my tank. It slowly crumbles over time. It's weird crap... the put small pieces of white plastic in it. If it didn't have the life on it I'd pull it out. There's a few pics on my site.

[Gnarly Reefer]

More details? Ok, I will try.

First I read up here on Reef Central, to learn what did and did not work for others. That's how I came across the ratio for the mix - seemed the lightest batches where made with a 3(+)/1 mix was the best, but brittle. I added the 1 part sand hoping for a sturdier mix. I mixed it sort of wet - wanted it to "plop" well.

I didn't use molds for the most part. The 2 I used "molds" on, were for round rocks, and I simply used a bucket half filled with oyster shell, wet, and scooped out a depression and "plopped the mix into it. I didn't like these rocks as well as the other, which I will explain below. The oyster shell really stuck to these, so I had to use a brush and a chisel to remove the extra shell.

The majority of the rock I did in a 2 step process. I laid garbage bags down on the work surface. then laid out the balloons I wanted to use, in the shapes I wanted. then I "plopped" the mix around and on the balloons, leaving as much balloon showing as I could, but still have a strong piece.

Once I had it all on there, and it had just started to firm up, I used a artist paint brush (the hard end) and toothpicks to ***** the rock over and over to give it the little holes we all crave. Have to be careful not to pop your balloons though. That comes later.

I kept it very wet for the first 2 days, as this mix is at first rather brittle. As soon as I felt it was able to be moved (about 18 hours), I flipped it over so I could make the other side (as it is done on a flat surface, you end up with a flat bottomed rock). Leaving the balloons in place, I then plopped the mix onto the other side, again, leaving as much of the balloon surface clear as I could. Pay special attention to the "join" - you don't want a line to show where the top joins the bottom.

Again I attacked it with the brushes hind end and toothpicks, and then left it alone for 2 days. Nature helped out here with 2 days of rain, which gave it extra "wet" time to cure, but you could also do as I did with my last 3 rocks and set them in a tub of water as soon as you feel they can move.

Then it is just a matter of final touches and curing. Once you remove the balloons, you will have "slick" spots - you can drool a bit of the mix into these to get them a more natural look. Now you will want to hit it with a hammer all over to remove the "loose" bits, and with this mix there will be a lot of this. Be rough with it, you don't want them flaking off into the tank later. Once you feel you have it down to the hard surface, you can set them to cure.

One of the best rocks I did was with 3 pieces - I broke one rock in two when I was clearing it of loose bits, and had a smaller rock I didn't like as well, so I set them up in a neat way and plopped the mix in such a way as the 3 became one and looked really good.

And plopping it is important. You just want to loosely pile the cement, or it becomes too dense to work for what we need. You can always build up what you need with patience, so keep it light and airy to start, let it start to set before plopping the next bit on - work in stages and take your time.

Oh, and branchy rock will need a support. I tried doing a branchy rock, but it wasn't strong enough to support itself - I think with a ridged inner support it would work great.

Does that cover it all? Did you want even closer pictures? And if so, of what the actual surface of the rocks? I could do one of the water pouring throught the rock if you wanted. And a real closeup of the holes and stuff, I guess.

Feel free to ask questions,
Thank you,
Gnarly Reefer

[chicki]

That looks fantastic!!! I'll order a 100 pounds!:)

[Gnarly Reefer]

Oh, and cost and the like. I'm going to ballpark here, ok?

I bought:
1 bag of portland cement, $2
3 bags oyster shell, $20
1 20lbs bag Crushed Coral, $15
1 bag SD sand, $15
1 bag water balloons and one bag tying balloons, $4
Total: $56

I made approximately 100 pounds of rock, and I have some cement and sand left over. So I figure about 50 cents a pound to make it.

Curing time will depend on it. Cement is one of those wierd things - the older it gets, the harder it gets. It will continue to harden over its lifespan. I will consider it done when the water it is curing in can be left for 2 nights and remain at a pH of 8.6. Right now I am draining the tubs every other day. The first week was every day, and there was a nasty "snow" that would cover the rocks. The water really burned my hands too.

I am really curious if using the hot tub would work for the curing process. Plenty of flow around the rocks, but it would need to be changed frequently, or it wouldn't help. Something to think about...

Well, thanks for listening :)
Gnarly Reefer

[Gnarly Reefer]

Originally posted by chicki
That looks fantastic!!! I'll order a 100 pounds!:)

I did a report on Alberta in High School - always thought it looked really pretty. A great place to visit.

I'll trade you all the rock you want for a week on horseback in the mountains :D

Thank you,
Gnarly Reefer

[Gnarly Reefer]

As I said, I had a lot of fun making this rock, and now have some pretty good idea's of what works and how to do it so it is light and porous (or at least as light and porous as cement gets).

I suppose I could make this up for people, if they want. Say a dollar and a quarter a pound, plus shipping? I am smack dab in the middle of the country, so shipping should be reasonable and this doesn't have to go next day air like live rock does.

I think I can make pieces up to 3 foot by 2 foot, a nice "show" piece, and can do both shelfs and base pieces.

I will do a 3 day soak before shipping it out, but curing will be at your locale, and I would recommend at least 6 weeks, and 8 weeks even better.

And a note of warning. This stuff will be a algae farm for it's first couple of months - you might get lucky and get coraline to take hold right off the bat, but likely you will have pest algae for a little while, but from what I have read, this is common and does go away.

If you wish to discuss it, send me an email or personal message.
Thank you,
Gnarly Reefer

[Gnarly Reefer]

Ultra-Closeup #1

[Gnarly Reefer]

Ultra-Closeup #2

[Gnarly Reefer]

Ultra-Closeup #4

[Gnarly Reefer]

Ultra-Closeup #5

[jorge]

Can you go into more detail regarding the balloons? Did you inflated them? What do you mean by "leaving as much balloon showing as I could"? Is the rock hollow inside?



Jorge

[Cnidae]

Awsome Job:D

[esmithiii]

About how long does it take to cure?

Ernie

[Gnarly Reefer]

Hello,
I will try to answer each of your questions.

Balloons? I tried both air ans water and both worked equally well, though the tying balloons (you know, the kind demented clowns twist into unrecognizable shapes at kids parties) did better with water. I tied some balloons together (using their "belly button"), or laid them out. Then carefully I would plop the mix onto and around the balloons, being extra careful not to pack it on. By leaving as much of the balloon showing as I could, I made sure there were lots of crevisses and holes for water to move through it. Once the mix had set up, I flipped the rocks over and did the same to the other side.

Some rocks are hollow, some are more solid - depended on what my rock muse directed me to do at the moment.

Curing is something I don't have any firsthand knowledge of, as this is my first go at DIY Live Rock. From what I gather, it should take 4-8 weeks, 6 being the average. GARF from my understanding, uses their backyard creek to cure the rock (bet the EPA loves that), while others (myself included) just use rubbermaid or trash cans and change water frequently. That is the key, clean water regularly.

Oh, and wear gloves when you do this. Unless you like red, raw hands...

I hope this makes things more clear?
Thank you,
Gnarly Reefer

[BCReefer]

For smaller pieces you can always put it into the tank on your toilet. I ws told this by someone else so I can't take the credit.

But with toilet, everytime you fluch you are putting fresh water into the tank and the high Ph water goes down the drain.

Cheers,

[Gnarly Reefer]

Hello BCReefer,
I had heard that too, but as most are curing large amounts of this stuff, it makes it sort of a "little to little" thing - though if someone wanted to use a piece in their nanoreef, this would work great :)

Thank you,
Gnarly Reefer

[Bayliner]

Very nice!!!!

Find a cheap way to ship this stuff and it looks like you could have a nice little side business.

Except you already revealed your cost....:eek1:

Regardless put me down for 50 lbs or so.

[Gnarly Reefer]

Hello Bayliner,
If a few folks want DIY LiveRock, I am more then happy to help them out. If I make a few bucks, that is great too, but anyone could have figured out the cost of this stuff, couldn't really keep it secret, even if I wanted to. I don't think it is possible to get rich making fake rock :D Though I am more then willing to give it a shot!

Checking UPS shipping rates, by ground, it looks like 50lbs would run about $15-$30 shipped in the US.

If you are really interested Bayliner, send me an email and we can discuss details.

Thank you all!
Gnarly Reefer

[Balor]

I've done this and the easiest way to cure it is............toilet......your changing water every day. It works great.

[Susko]

Can you make one to look just like Mt. Rushmore?

[Gnarly Reefer]

Originally posted by Susko
Can you make one to look just like Mt. Rushmore?

Hmmm....
Don't really know how to answer this one.
I'd be willing to try, though the faces might not look true to life. We are talking LiveRock here after all.
But yeah, I think I could give a decent representation of that great monument (hallucinogens will help the viewer, I'm sure).

Thanks for asking, I think,
Gnarly Reefer

[Susko]

Just kidding, Knarly. Your rock does look good. Please keep us informed as to how it holds up under salt water.

[Gnarly Reefer]

You had me going there for a minute Susko - I was actually trying to figure out how to do that one. Also been thinking of big arches...

I surely will keep everyone posted on how it does in saltwater - even if i have to revive the thread from the dead.

I'm starting to feel like playing in the cement again. I'm thinking that garbage bags filled with water and tied off (just like a balloon) would make really big hollow rocks. Just the sort of place an eel or octopus would like to hide...

And anyone know if eggcrate can be bent? That might make a perfect ridged support for branchy pieces or arches, but it would have to be able to be bent with heat or something.

Thank you,
Gnarly Reefer

[absolutc]

First, if that DIY rock was purple in a tank, I would never know the difference. The texture is superb! Never seen anything like it.

Second, a tip for getting arches and curves, get a rubbermade tote of descent size and fill it up with sand and any other materials you want to use.

Scoop out your design! Plop in the cement and place the sand on top of it. Or just bored out a hole and leave the sand intact. Your basically building a sand castle, inverted. Not above, but below ground.

Have fun!

[Gnarly Reefer]

Thank you absolutc, for the compliment and the suggestion.

If you use molds, they come out "wrong" looking, as the mold squishes the mix and sticks to the outside. I really didn't like the pieces I made using the "mold" technique. I can show you some pic's if you want, but trust me, I had no luck with the mold route.

Takes longer my way, but you see the end result - almost life like rock.

Thank you,
Gnarly Reefer