1st batch of homemade LR!

life~reefer

life~reefer

Member
Originally Posted by Life~Reefer
http:///forum/post/2928578
A nice trick I use for this is cutting about an inch or more (depending on your sand bed) and placing them under the rock! No one even sees it if you have the right size!
Sorry I was talking about PVC!!!!!
 
dabnub

dabnub

Member
Use Dampened Play Sand In A Ice Chest To Make Molds, Stick Your Deco Shells Into The Sand And Pour Your Argo/portland Mix In.
 
V

vinnyraptor

Guest
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
http:///forum/post/2895690
lol, I tried this too. After a year of curing and every day water changes - I couldn't get the pH any lower then 12.5 Finally I said to heck with it and threw the project away.
Mind you - it can be done, just takes time.
heres the cured rock in the DT you can see coraline starting to grow on it.


 
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vinnyraptor

Guest
Originally Posted by r1v2c
http:///forum/post/2969199
cool ... the rocks look great.
How long did the whole process take you?
maybe 3 months... in 3 to 4 months you can possibly create your own custom reef and seed it with a few pieces of LR. ive noticed some population growth in copepods and amphipods in the last 30 days, simply because i designed a few base rocks with deep narrow chambers that only these animals can get to.


 
loopy101

loopy101

Member
looks great! i just wanted to through another idea at ya so i hope ya dont mind!
portland I orII is safe to use but to save a little money you can go to a feed market and buy chicken feed made out of crushed oyster shells. and that is all the feed is crushed oyster shells all calcium based. and what i did what take 4 to 5 parts of feed to 1 part of portland number II and mix it up. you can make your own shapes playing around or take clean non silica based sand and wet it down and make forms. and then let it cure for close to 2 months or until the ph is at a exceptable level. hope this helps some one!! and saves a reef out in the great oceons
 
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vinnyraptor

Guest
Originally Posted by loopy101
http:///forum/post/2973646
looks great! i just wanted to through another idea at ya so i hope ya dont mind!
portland I orII is safe to use but to save a little money you can go to a feed market and buy chicken feed made out of crushed oyster shells. and that is all the feed is crushed oyster shells all calcium based. and what i did what take 4 to 5 parts of feed to 1 part of portland number II and mix it up. you can make your own shapes playing around or take clean non silica based sand and wet it down and make forms. and then let it cure for close to 2 months or until the ph is at a exceptable level. hope this helps some one!! and saves a reef out in the great oceons
ty, i could get my hands on oyster shell so i used argonite sand. everything is doing great. ph 8.3 and rock is starting to grow coraline.
 
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vinnyraptor

Guest
Originally Posted by nminunni
http:///forum/post/2975337
im inspired.
Time to start reading.

the main thing is the fresh water bath. once the rocks harden keep them completely covered with water and add a powerhead for movement. change out the water every 2 or 3 days for atleast 8 weeks before you even bother to start testing the ph. any earlier and your just wasting a test kit. also make sure your using a ph test kit for FRESH WATER.
once the rock is at 8.3 or below dump the fresh water and put them in a salt water bath for a few more weeks. adding a few pieces of LR and a light will help to start spreading good bacteria onto your new rock. test this water every few days for PH using your salt test kit. after a few weeks of getting stable reads of around 8.3 the rock is 100% safe to add to your tank.
in the first few weeks of the fresh water bath you may notice an oily film on the surface of the water, its normal. keep changing every few days and it will disapear.
as far as ratio's and ingredients, thats up to you. i used equal parts of portland cement and argonite sand. it hardened like a rock, lol. it's not as pourous as i would have liked but i wanted it to be able to hold up my real LR and need it to be strong. i suggest making a few base pieces ( see pics at top of thread) and use airline tubing of different sizes to create chambers. i did this so pods would have a place to breed and be 100% safe from predators ensuring the population not only survived by grew. i happy to say it worked to perfection. the deep chambers i made with standard airline tubing are only big enough for the bugs to get in and in a few weeks ive seen more pods then ever before. my Mandarin is very happy
 
cranberry

cranberry

Active Member
This thread has lots of great tips. Can you fill me in a bit more about the rock salt? Do you have a recipe Spanko?
 
fishkid13

fishkid13

Active Member
Ya, I want to know more about making it. Do you have pictures of you making them or just the final project?
 
taznut

taznut

Active Member
im am trying this now... from my understandign you cant use the portland type 1 because of the silica... I cant find type II and III so Im trying it with the portland post cements (not working too well, so far i have gotten a couple of pieces that just break apart into sand)... good luck...
vinny, your rock looks great...
 
lesljohn

lesljohn

New Member
i made my first pieces of rock today had to use type one though will see what happens i made a large round piece like a dome using a balloon planing on drilling holes for the fish the beach by the house is mostly shell
mix was
1 part cement
2 part argonite sand
3 part shells
good amount of salt
hope it works
 
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vinnyraptor

Guest
Originally Posted by taznut
http:///forum/post/2995764
im am trying this now... from my understandign you cant use the portland type 1 because of the silica... I cant find type II and III so Im trying it with the portland post cements (not working too well, so far i have gotten a couple of pieces that just break apart into sand)... good luck...
vinny, your rock looks great...
i did use type 1 portland, rock has been in tank since late January with no problems at all. coral, inverts, and fish are fine. no serious algae blooms either.
dont believe the hype! lol
 
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vinnyraptor

Guest
Originally Posted by lesljohn
http:///forum/post/2995944
i made my first pieces of rock today had to use type one though will see what happens i made a large round piece like a dome using a balloon planing on drilling holes for the fish the beach by the house is mostly shell
mix was
1 part cement
2 part argonite sand
3 part shells
good amount of salt
hope it works
good luck!
 
taznut

taznut

Active Member
Originally Posted by lesljohn
http:///forum/post/2996533
i read some where to let them soak in vinager for 12 hours ever heard of that
i seen this too in a thread on here from a couple of years ago i think... they said they used to do it but not to anymore... all it does is lower the ph at the start but doesnt shorten the curing time in the long run and it weakens the rock...
 
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vinnyraptor

Guest
Originally Posted by lesljohn
http:///forum/post/2996886
great i hope it dont just crumble on me
if its crumbling your not using enough cement and it wont hold up in the long run. i used equal parts of portland cement type 1 and argonite sand. i was able to mold the cement easily into the shapes i wanted and it dried rock hard. it sat in a fresh water bath for 10 1/2 weeks with a powerhead for movement. i changed the water every couple of days. once the ph was 8.5 i put in saltwater with a few pc.s of LR for about 10 days. my systems ph was a little low at the time around 7.9 . i added the rock all at once and over time in stabilized my ph at 8.3. i check it weekly and its perfect. coraline is growing on it and all parameters are perfect. livestock is healthy and happy for the custom made homes.

 
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