Making My Own Rock, Any Ideas?

royalgamma

royalgamma

Member
Well, read alot the subject but looking for any new angles.
Tried making mine today so it will be atleast a day or 2 until I dig it out and check it out.
Well any other info would be apperciated, thanks in advance.
 
P

phishface

Guest
I made most of my rock, recipe off the net, works great and saves money and hopefully the reef!! I let it cure in a big plastic bucket with a powerhead, changing the water everyweek for 3 weeks. Then do it in saltwater for 2 weeks. Good luck :happyfish
 
royalgamma

royalgamma

Member
Yea I will try to post some tommorow .
I already have 2 made. One is an arch and the other just a rock with a hole in it.
Also have 4 more harding up as we speak so ...within the next couple of days I'll try to get them up....thanks
 
royalgamma

royalgamma

Member
Well here is two rocks I mad the other day.
it is made with, portland cement, crused oyster shells , and I used cut up plastic ( regrind ) since I work at a plastic factory. I used water ballons , blown up with air to make the caves and I put some pvc pipe with alot of hole drilled in it under it with the ends exposed to let water flow go thru ( in theory ) making more as we speak.
I mix it all up then let it set for 1/2 hour then mold it to how I want it. Hope everyone enjoys.




 
xxxgreg

xxxgreg

Member
that looks good. im also thinking of doing this for my tanks . did you happen to figure the cost per lbs on it ? and while curing it have you been checking your ph ? Ive read that doing it this way you get a big jump with your ph any info you have would be good
 
royalgamma

royalgamma

Member
well 50lbs of shells was about $6.50, 95 Lbs of portland cement was also about $6.50, Getting the plastic for free ( heard that coralite will grow really good on plastic ) which comes out to about 12 cents a pound . Also I haven't started curing yet. I want to get a couple of really good keeper peices first so they can all go in the tank at the same time.
Good Luck with it, and have fun...Will post pics of new peices tommorow.
 
xxxgreg

xxxgreg

Member
thats not a bad deal per lbs
better than most rock from any lfs.. and your right coralite will grow really good on plastic faster than most anything else.
 
xxxgreg

xxxgreg

Member
oh while were talking about making our own rock has anyone tryed pushing uncooked spaghetti in the cement saw a thing last night on it and it put alot of realy nice wholes in the rock? the guy said the spaghetti would rot out during the curing time it looked good just wanted to know if anyone has tryed this?
 
S

saltfreak4

Guest
great ideas. I would love to hear more from anyone else that has tried this. Thanks
 
xdave

xdave

Active Member
Thats cool. How do you get coraline to grow on it? Don't you need to have some rock with it on to get it going?
 
daveverdo

daveverdo

Member
I used ziti in mine. Makes some nice little tunnels and such. I have also read about people who used rice krispies, cooked rice, elbow pasta, and pasta shells. The key is not too much. Mix a batch of 5:1 crushed oyster shells to portland cement and then mix in about 1 part pasta. More than that really weakens things. Mine are inthe curing tub right now. Last time I checked the pasta was falling apart nicely leaving some nice holes.
I have seen picture of some really good looking rocks. I really screwed up the first batch I made. They ended up really heavy solid and ugly. Looked like broken peices of concrete. The second batch was better and the third better still.
Have to wait until they cure to see how the really look.
Several people have used pickling salt mixed in which dissolves during the curing process. The problem I see with the salt is rocks will not be as strong if cured in salt water. So as the salt dissolves it make the curing water slty and the rocks weaker. Maybe changing th water more often during curing will fix that though.
I'll post some picture when mine are out of the tub.
Dave
 
royalgamma

royalgamma

Member
some more picks...gonna make one more batch ...lots of small - medium rocks and then its of to the water bath for a couple of weeks ...cant wait until they go in the tank

the one rock standing up will be in the center of my tank. didn't turn out quite like I wanted but good enough



 
royalgamma

royalgamma

Member
I was washing this stuff off and boy o boy does it hold alot of water ...tons of nooks and crannies. This batch was the closest thing to live rock that I've made so far. It even makes that bubbly sound that live rock makes when taken out of the tank. I'm so excited hope this stuff looks awsome in 6 months in the tank. :jumping: :jumping: :cheer:
 
daveverdo

daveverdo

Member
anyone checking there ph while curing there home made rock??
The last test was off the scale on my test kit!!
Dave
 
royalgamma

royalgamma

Member
well I couldn't wait I threw 1 peice in that I made last week (and hasn't been cured , but a couple of hours in water) wanted to see how the stuff looks in the tank. Well it looks cool and the fish like the caves. Gonna watch my ph levels see what happens.
 
aceheart

aceheart

Member
royal, thats some nice looking pieces, im not all that good with making stuff like this so im not sure im going to try it yet lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top