making bulk live rock

[scott9311]

I made a couple more today... and thought I'd show the process.
Here's the sand box with the sand scooped out to make the molds I wanted:

 

[scott9311]

Here are the molds with the mix poured in:

 

[scott9311]

On this one, I added more sand in the middle to make it hollow, more porous, and a little less heavy (I'll put the mix over the sand I added to accomplish this):

 

[scott9311]

I'll pull them out in a couple of days after they've had time to set and post the pictures.
Funny thing: When I was digging out my molds, I found a rock I did a few days ago. I evidently forgot I had it in there... It was like X-Mas!

 

[fishieness]

wow!!! that is a reeeeaaally good idea! Im upgrading tanks for my eel in a few months. well, i already have the tank, just need to set it up and get water and everythign in there. But i was jsut fretting today about how much the cost of the live rock will be! I can just make it in my main tank?! or at least in the tank before i put the eel in? And sicneit is in my tank with no fish, id jsut have to add some shrimp in there for the cycle and that will grow the bacteria on it and make it all cured?!
i will have to try that. I have 28 pounds in my 29 gallon right now, and at 7 bucks a pound at my local fish store... it sure adds up. And then with a 2 foot long snowflake eel at some point, theyd make a small fortune of my high-school jobless-butt

 

[scott9311]

Yes... it's definitely an inexpensive way to go. Just make absolutely SURE you cure the rock after you make it. Put it in a trash can with FRESH water, and do a water change every week for about 5 weeks. You may want to soak it in white vinegar for 12 hours before putting it in the trash can. This will help speed up the curing process. Just keep checking your PH levels... for that is what spikes when making rock this way.
You may want to buy a few pieces of actual live rock to help seed what you make.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[fishieness]

is it possible to have it cure in the tank? as long as there are no fish in the tank? because it will be a while until my eel needs to be upgraded. Hes only about 10 inches now, tops

 

[daelynn]

Curing in vinegar can actually weaken the concrete.
Curing for 4-6 weeks in fresh water than 2 weeks in salt is suggested. But of course, check the ph to tell if it's done! They say the salt water makes it spike again then come down which is better to do in something other than your tank! Small amounts of rock added to an existing would be ok, but if you are filling a big tank with this with just a bit of live rock, I'd cure it as long as possible and be as safe as possible.
If you do a search for Aragocrete you will find many pages with complete how toos.
There are a lot of different opinions and other additives that will make the concrete harder/more porous/lighter and so on.
Its worth the couple hours of research to know exactly what materials you want to get so you'll have a rock YOU want exactly.
Dae

 

[scott9311]

Originally posted by fishieness
is it possible to have it cure in the tank? as long as there are no fish in the tank? because it will be a while until my eel needs to be upgraded. Hes only about 10 inches now, tops
Just don't have anything live (fish, coral, etc...) for it won't survive.

 

[scott9311]

I took the rock I made yesterday out of the sand, aquascaped a bit, and... well... here it is!
This is the mold of one (w/mix already added):

 

[scott9311]

And here is the finished product (it's basically hollow... so I punched a hole in it to give a home to smaller fish, shrimp, etc.):

 

[scott9311]

The next pics are me aquascaping to get an idea of how many more I need to make, and basically how it will all look. I will be buying about 30-40 lbs of live rock to seed what I've made. That, along with my corals, should give it plenty of color! The darker colored rocks are what I made yesterday. (The tallest one is 22" to give you an idea of the size.)

 

[scott9311]

Another:

 

[scott9311]

And finally:

 

[scott9311]

Hopefully this has given everyone a cheap alternative to buying expensive LR... I will post pics of my finished setup in a couple of months when I get everything up and running.
Good luck and have fun making rock!!!

 

[fishieness]

d'oh, i wouldnt have anything live in the tank when im curing the rock, because im setting up a new tank for my eel once he outgrows my 29 gal... i think im going to do that though, jsut wait a few months for the live rock to cure and such before adding him in. and about 8 months you say until the rock is living?

 

[scott9311]

I'm not entirely sure when it can be considered "live" rock... It will start to seed once it's in the tank mixed with actual live rock though. Just like any tank... just make sure you check your parameters before adding your eel. Also... to help with coraline algae growth, scrape some off of your live rock and let it settle on what you make. It will take hold and should start to grow.

 

[mumbulog]

it can take up to a year for the rock to be completely living and another way of getting coraline growth besides the great suggestion above is to add calcium to your tank daily. Some of my base rock looks as good as my 5-8 dollars a lb live rock!

 

[tonythfish]

So I am in the process of set up a 180 that would like to make up some of this rock . Where is everybody getting all the materials ?

 

[scott9311]

I get the concrete at HD, and the oyster shells and sand at a place in Annapolis, MD called Bowen's Farm Supply. Any farm supply place should have the oyster shells... I think it's used as a supplement w/chicken feed.