DIY Rock

goblin

goblin

Member
Made some rock for the tank this weekend, first time trying. First batch turned out better then I thought it would, its currently soaking in water. I have another one in the mold harding now. I used crushed oyster shells and portland I/II. Mixed it 4 to 1 and added cement as I went along until I got it to the thickness I wanted.
Here are some pics. Thanks goes mainly to this site for my research of the subject. Here is a link to some good info for anybody interested in the subject.
Tom Miller
My mold box

The first rock just pulled out of the mold

First rock curing in the sun.

Now its the long wait curing the rock in water for about 6 weeks.
 
triga22

triga22

Active Member
Pretty neat.. I think i would screw up on making it so if u have some extra gmme a call =] lol
 
goblin

goblin

Member
There are several benefits....
1. The cost, comes out to about 10 cents a lbs
2. You can design your own reef.
3. Saves the oceans reef.
 
C

cotti

Guest
Originally Posted by Goblin
There are several benefits....
1. The cost, comes out to about 10 cents a lbs
2. You can design your own reef.
3. Saves the oceans reef.
Ok the savings are good, designing your own reef is a benefit..but saves the ocean reef...is this really a concern? And what about the benefits of lr...you don't get that with homemade....besides that....it doesn't sound too difficult and the link you gave was excellent info on the process!
 
goblin

goblin

Member
You can grow coraline alge on your rock and will eventally become tank grown live rock, you have to mix it with live rock. As far as saving our oceans reefs Read this
Or just google saving our oceans reef.
 
dieselndix

dieselndix

Member
can you use just about any sand with the portland cement? what about adding chumnks of rock salt to create crevices
 
bojik

bojik

Member
Not sure if ANY sand just any that won't leach toxins. Which kinds specifically
And using ostyer shells menas its got calcium etc in it like LR. And I thought Curing it in a basement was better than in a bucket of water. (though underwater cement is easy to make heh)
 
sleasia

sleasia

Active Member
bojik...I just had a new 150 gallon glass tank handed over to me. I'm getting it ready for a reef tank and would like to make alot of lr...where the heck do I get oyster shells? in quantity? If you are not allowed to say on the site can you hint or email me sleasia@comcast.net thanks appreciate this very much.
 
bojik

bojik

Member
I'm not sure where you can find it. Try a google search for it. I have not done LR making myself, yet.
 
chris57

chris57

Member
Originally Posted by Goblin
You can grow coraline alge on your rock and will eventally become tank grown live rock, you have to mix it with live rock. As far as saving our oceans reefs Read this
Or just google saving our oceans reef.
coralline agae doesn't grow wildly in the aquarium you'll need either some live rock or coralline agae scrapings.
 
jlem

jlem

Active Member
About 1/3 of my reef is DIY Rock and unless you are looking for it you can't tell which stuff is Live rock and which is Aragocrete. The Aragocret is quite porous so it is great for Beneficial bacteria and for tiny critters. I bought the Oyster shells at the feed store. another thing that people are going now for texture is pressing ROCK SALT into the outside of the rock. The salt dissolves away and leaves a nice tecture to the rock. Besides a few little pieces of Ocean rock for the cooraline I would do a whole tank in Aragocrete rock and spend the money you save on lights and a good skimmer.
 
sleasia

sleasia

Active Member
jlem...this is exactly what I am planning on doing. I have a 200 fowlr set up already, nearly 2 years old. someone at work just handed me a glass 150, so I will turn this slowly into my reef tank. I want to try and have almost all of it diy rock since I am in no rush...I am hoping it will work.
 
goblin

goblin

Member
Originally Posted by chris57
coralline agae doesn't grow wildly in the aquarium you'll need either some live rock or coralline agae scrapings.
Thats why I said you need to mix it with live rock.

You can find crushed oyster shells at feed stores. Its used as chicken feed. I've made several other pieces sence these pictures. The rock in the picture doesn't fit quite right in my tank. I'm giving it to my buddy to put in his 150 as base rock.
 
bojik

bojik

Member
Originally Posted by jlem
About 1/3 of my reef is DIY Rock and unless you are looking for it you can't tell which stuff is Live rock and which is Aragocrete. The Aragocret is quite porous so it is great for Beneficial bacteria and for tiny critters. I bought the Oyster shells at the feed store. another thing that people are going now for texture is pressing ROCK SALT into the outside of the rock. The salt dissolves away and leaves a nice tecture to the rock. Besides a few little pieces of Ocean rock for the cooraline I would do a whole tank in Aragocrete rock and spend the money you save on lights and a good skimmer.
I heard that if you mix salt into the batch coarsely as well it made it, in the end, lighter and more porous. Much weight to that?
 
daveverdo

daveverdo

Member
Hi,
I made some this weekend, just took it out of the mold today. A few came out OK but most it was trash. I had my kids help. The 8 and 4 year olds look nice. I screwed mine up pretty bad. Mixed up another test batch today. We'll see how that turns out.
I didn't read the article posted above but I have read some articles that suggest using cooked rice, rice krispies, or uncooked pasta in the mix. No more than 1 part in 5 of the whole thing. As the rock is curing for 5-6 weeks the pasta or rice dissolve out in the highly alkine soup leaving tunnels crevices and highly porous and permeable rock.
Didn't try the rice pasta thing myself but it is on the list for next test batch. Some asked about rock salt earlier. That would weaken the rock because the cement would not cure well in the salt water created as the salt dissolved.
I got aragonite sand from HD $3.50 for 50lbs, crushed oyster shells for $8 - 50lbs, and the portland cement was $9 for 94 lbs. The cement is the biggest expense because it is hard to get in bags smaller than 90lbs. The cement is only 1/6 of the total mix. So 90lbs is enough to make 500lbs of rocks.
Dave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top