making bulk live rock

scott9311

scott9311

Member

Originally posted by shiby1510
I read from scotty that any sand would work... which makes me much happier due to southdown being even hard for me to find and i live in PA!! well anyways... i was wondering if you could just get a trashcan and fill it with regular sand and freshwater... and that would cure it?? therefore you could have just any old sand but cure it to use as a substrate? thanks! just an idea?? lemme know! :thinking: :jumping:
You know... I'm really not sure about that. I guess you could always try and test your water to see what's happening with it. I've read here that people have had success using regular sand, but I've never done it so I don't want to give you bad advice. It's a sound idea though...
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
thanx.. for the pointers scotty :yes:
I have another question.. i saw that you said that macaroni could be used instead of oyster shells.. so i guess u could prob just use any noodle at that... oh and do u crush them all up?? and then just add them in?? this i'm guessing makes the rock lighter... same with the oyster shells... cuz i read how you can just really use aragonite with cement?? thanks:happyfish
 
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andretti

Guest
Hey Scotty...Andretti again. Here's another idea for you to make some seroius $$$. I was on that auction site and people actually sell "blue prints" or "how to's" for live rock. You could make a master, then photocopy, print, ???? with your awesome stuff, you could retire. Well I spent from 1:00-6:00 today making more rock. Now, it's not as much fun because it seem like a chore or a job...know what I mean? :notsure: So I go in to drop off my last batch to my LFS and the ownwer is screamin' for more again! :jumping: I told him it's turning into a job and takes a lot of work, so I'm upping my price, plus I want to sell it by the piece, not by weight. They are very light (rocks) because the majority of the mixture is crused oyster shells, he said "fine...whatever!" :D So now I get about $2.50 more per rock; I love captilism
. So for all my hard work, seriously, it's hard...especially now that my boys have lost interest. They just want to make the molds, not mix the stuff. I got a purple tang (favorite fish of all time!) a naso tang, 150 gallons of salt mix, and new calcium and alkalinity test kits. The rest I'm just going keep saving as store credit because as I type, I'm putting together a 300. The wife says the 125 has gotta go, but I'm just going to hide it in the stand by using it as a sump/fuge for the new 300.
 
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andretti

Guest
Hey, me again. Tell me what you think about this: Making permanent molds out of a plaster or vulcanized rubber?:notsure: I don't know how you do it, but once I make a piece of rock, the mold is basically destroyed. So you make a mold out of a mold, that would cut down on the labor by about 40%. Maybe you already do this and I'm just behind on the curve, or maybe I'm a genius and now you worship me! Another thing to cut down on the labor is using a paint mixer on a drill to mix the recipe and the sand for the molds. I was doing it the old fashion way, and got tired of it so off to H/D I went. I found this thing in the paint dept., and it works great! :cheer: It's made out of metal and has blades on it with different types/sizes of angles and it hooks up to a drill. It only took about 30 seconds to mix the sand and one minute for the rock mix. I'm going to try the master mold tomorrow and I'll write back and let you know how it goes. Will you write back and tell me what you think of the mold idea and also how you mix your stuff?
:D
 
scott9311

scott9311

Member
Wow Andretti... WOW!
You've been a busy bee!!
I've thought about doing a mold as well... I already have a couple pieces of cardboard I shaped to help make hollow columns and such, but have yet to decide what could be used as a permanent mold. Ideally, you want to use something the concrete won't stick to if it happens to get on it through the sand. Styrofoam is the first thing that comes to mind for me. If you could find a block of it... you could easily carve out your designs. It's liteweight and inexpensive and seems perfect for the job.
I'm still using my tired arms to mix!!!!

You know Andretti... you've inspired ME now!:D Do you have any pics of your stuff???
 
scott9311

scott9311

Member

Originally posted by shiby1510
thanx.. for the pointers scotty :yes:
I have another question.. i saw that you said that macaroni could be used instead of oyster shells.. so i guess u could prob just use any noodle at that... oh and do u crush them all up?? and then just add them in?? this i'm guessing makes the rock lighter... same with the oyster shells... cuz i read how you can just really use aragonite with cement?? thanks:happyfish
Crush or no-crush would basically be your preference Shilby. The idea behind using it is not so much to make it liteweight, but instead to make it porous.
 
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andretti

Guest
Yeah, I will post some pics, as soon as I can figure out how to do it:notsure: Well my "master mold" project did not turn out so well. It worked good for the shallow stuff, but as for the deeper stuff, it just slid down and gooped up on the bottom. You know, I was thinking about styrofoam too, but then I had a vision:D You know that green stuff that you stick fake flowers into? That stuff is super easy to carve and plus you won't get those millions of little white balls that styrofoam leaves behind when you break/cut it. Plus, the wife has a stockpile of the stuff. I'm off to go do some carving, I'll write back and let you know how it went.
Besides doing this, I'm not doing any rock buildin' today; I need a break! Plus, I've been neglecting my other chores like the lawn, house and other things as well. C-Ya.
BTW, the guy that buys my rock, cures the stuff himself, or tells the customer to do it. That makes my job a lot easier, not to mention a quicker turnover rate.
 
scott9311

scott9311

Member

Originally posted by Andretti
Yeah, I will post some pics, as soon as I can figure out how to do it:notsure: Well my "master mold" project did not turn out so well. It worked good for the shallow stuff, but as for the deeper stuff, it just slid down and gooped up on the bottom. You know, I was thinking about styrofoam too, but then I had a vision:D You know that green stuff that you stick fake flowers into? That stuff is super easy to carve and plus you won't get those millions of little white balls that styrofoam leaves behind when you break/cut it. Plus, the wife has a stockpile of the stuff. I'm off to go do some carving, I'll write back and let you know how it went.
Besides doing this, I'm not doing any rock buildin' today; I need a break! Plus, I've been neglecting my other chores like the lawn, house and other things as well. C-Ya.
BTW, the guy that buys my rock, cures the stuff himself, or tells the customer to do it. That makes my job a lot easier, not to mention a quicker turnover rate.

Instead of carving the styrofoam... I was thinking of "melting" it.
 
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andretti

Guest
Oh, I'd never even thought of that... have you done it? It does'nt seem like it would melt that good, but hey, you're the guru when it comes to this stuff. The carving came out really good, but like I said...I'm takin' the day off!
 
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andretti

Guest
BTW, I think it was "Shibby" whom was asking about macaroni. I've heard of people using it, but I've got a better and cheaper alternative; plastic straws.:D You're probably saying to youself "what in the world is he talking about" right? Well here's whatcha do. Obviously, buy a bunch of plastic straws. They're about $1 for 100. Anyway, cut them into one inch sizes or ???. Add these to your mix. You can substitute them for the oyster shells, but I prefer to add them to it; it makes the rock much more porus. Plus, it gives it more shape if you will. The straws "poke" out here and there and it just makes it look more like the real stuff.
 
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andretti

Guest
Hey Scotty, I was looking at your profile thing where our "Names" are. It looks like we're both working on a 300, and is that a picture of a purple tang? That's my all-time favorite fish!:jumping: Plus, the numbers in your name, 9311. That was the address of the wife and I's first house. I knew there was a reason or reasons I trusted your judgement. BTW, i found another place that sold the oyster shells for 1/2 of what I was currently paying. Plus, H/D was having a sale yesterday on portland cement: buy one get one free. Needless to say, I loaded up!
So now, the next 10 batches (about 200 lbs) each will cost me only $13 to make:D and I owe it all to you!
 
scott9311

scott9311

Member

Originally posted by Andretti
Oh, I'd never even thought of that... have you done it? It does'nt seem like it would melt that good, but hey, you're the guru when it comes to this stuff. The carving came out really good, but like I said...I'm takin' the day off!

No, I've never done it that way... I know it melts pretty easily, but haven'y quite figured out how to do it yet. I was thinking along the lines of heating up a blunt metal object to melt it... or even just a propane torch. As long as you keep the flame low it should work fine (in theory, of course).
 
scott9311

scott9311

Member

Originally posted by Andretti
BTW, I think it was "Shibby" whom was asking about macaroni. I've heard of people using it, but I've got a better and cheaper alternative; plastic straws.:D You're probably saying to youself "what in the world is he talking about" right? Well here's whatcha do. Obviously, buy a bunch of plastic straws. They're about $1 for 100. Anyway, cut them into one inch sizes or ???. Add these to your mix. You can substitute them for the oyster shells, but I prefer to add them to it; it makes the rock much more porus. Plus, it gives it more shape if you will. The straws "poke" out here and there and it just makes it look more like the real stuff.

You actually get a twofold benefit by using plastic straws... The first is exactly like you said... very porous. The second is that coraline algae grows easily on plastic! Anyone with overflows in their tank could attest to that.
 
scott9311

scott9311

Member

Originally posted by Andretti
Hey Scotty, I was looking at your profile thing where our "Names" are. It looks like we're both working on a 300, and is that a picture of a purple tang? That's my all-time favorite fish!:jumping: Plus, the numbers in your name, 9311. That was the address of the wife and I's first house. I knew there was a reason or reasons I trusted your judgement. BTW, i found another place that sold the oyster shells for 1/2 of what I was currently paying. Plus, H/D was having a sale yesterday on portland cement: buy one get one free. Needless to say, I loaded up!
So now, the next 10 batches (about 200 lbs) each will cost me only $13 to make:D and I owe it all to you!

No... that's a Gem Tang. Same family as a Purple though. Unfortunately I don't have one... yet. I already have a yellow in my 120, but I may get one when I finish my 300. Much more room for them to avoid each other, and I'll add the gem first.
I'm really glad this has helped you Andretti... but you give me WAY too much credit! All I've done is pass on info that I've learned elsewhere from someone doing the same as I'm doing... passing on the knowledge
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
I just picked up a bag of pavestone premium desert sand...
The tag price that was above where all the bags said tropical sand... soo is this the stuff??
The sand was very moist inside the bag and seemed very high quality.. there was not an ingredient bag however to check for silicates and all that yucky stuff!
i tried doing the vinegar test... but i'm not sure if it really did anything....... :notsure:
is it real noticeable when you do it?? :nervous:
thanks for any help!! :happyfish
 
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andretti

Guest
Hey Shibby, anything that says "play sand" is good because it has to (by law) have toxins removed that other sands such as cement mixing sand, grout sand, etc. So if it says play... you're o.k. (I made a rhyme) yeah:cheer:
 
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andretti

Guest
Scott, I use argonite sand. But tomorrow I'm trying a new endeavor. When I, or my cheap labor (kids) mix my cement, sand, and shells, I like a real dry mix; it's more porus that way. Anyhow, I've noticed the dry mix holds its shape really well so tomorrow after another day of paradise in the California public-schools:mad: I'm going to make a batch using no molds. I'm just going to shape it and let it set up on a 4x8 sheet of plywood. And when it starts to harden a little, I'll shape it up again. After this batch, I'll work on postin' some pics. BTW...any luck W/the store credit thing?
Oh yeah, Saturday when my son and i were working on a new batch, he said, "Hey dad let's make another one like that man's." He really likes to make the one with the two colums and the bridge going across.
 
thangbom

thangbom

Active Member
umm hi guyz... im late getting into this trend but anyhow.. im making this rock stuff also.. i took my recipe from garf tho... so far i make about 150 lbs... anyhow.. i havnt cured it yet .. so i was wondering if u cured yours yet.. i read plenty of trends and online site on how to cure it.. (5 weeks tap 2 week salt) but i wanted to know how u did it.. and if it worked good.. i would like to know befor i kill $500+ of fish.... however.. i will probaly go w/ my original plan of curing.. (i happen to live really close to the beack... 2 blocks.. but 1 mile from a really clean beach.. which will be my 1st pick.. ) i just wanted to know the time frame u use to cure your rock thats all.. before i chuck my roxks in the ocean...
 
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