My Aragacrete - Pic

[vayapues]

Originally Posted by vayapues
http:///forum/post/2561772
The 'feed' is not nutritional, but is used to break down food in the gizzard of poultry. Quartz is fine in your rock, since the quartz is stable, and will not leach anything harmful into the water. The only 'downside' is that you will not get the PH buffering that you would get from the same volume another material. Other than that, it will function just the same as anything else, and serve its purpose.
If it were me however, I would spend a little extra now, and save myself down the road. JMO of course.
Just a quick correction. I spoke with a buddy of mine who is a zoo keeper, working with birds. He explained to me that the feed actually is not just to help grind food. It is also a calcium supplement to help foster healthy egg shells.

 

[vayapues]

Originally Posted by mscarpena
http:///forum/post/2562027
The only issue I see with the starch pellets are they are very flexible and would dissinigrate very quickly. Probably too quickly for this application. JUst my though though.
Good point. I remember as a kid we would put them in our mouths. Seems like they disapeared fairly quickly. the wet cement would probably turn them into mush.

 

[rbrockm1]

man i love that rock design. When i get a bigger tank i will use that instead of lr.

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by mscarpena
http:///forum/post/2562027
The only issue I see with the starch pellets are they are very flexible and would dissinigrate very quickly. Probably too quickly for this application. JUst my though though.

Good point. I remember as a kid we would put them in our mouths. Seems like they disapeared fairly quickly. the wet cement would probably turn them into mush.
Kind of what I was thinking also, which is why I kicked the idea out here. Thanks for the input!

 

[vayapues]

It has been nine weeks since I put this rock into my fishtank to begin the process of curing.
Last week I dumped two gallons of vinegar into the tank and let it sit for a few days, as a final last ditch effort to make sure the rock is fully cured. As the vinegar sat in the tank, I got mother of vinegar (slime) in the tank, which I am taking as a positive sign that the PH is staying low enough for bacteria to grow.
I drained the tank again, and put in fresh water. I am going to let it sit for a week or two, and then test the ph. If it stays low, then I am going to begin to cycle the tank.
If I had purchased LR, I would be 60 days ahead on my setup, but hundreds of dollars behind in the wallet. Additionally, my aquascaping is exactly how I want it, and it gives me something to be proud of.
After cycling, I will spend the next few months bringing the rock to life.

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by vayapues
http:///forum/post/2635404
It has been nine weeks since I put this rock into my fishtank to begin the process of curing.
Last week I dumped two gallons of vinegar into the tank and let it sit for a few days, as a final last ditch effort to make sure the rock is fully cured. As the vinegar sat in the tank, I got mother of vinegar (slime) in the tank, which I am taking as a positive sign that the PH is staying low enough for bacteria to grow.
I drained the tank again, and put in fresh water. I am going to let it sit for a week or two, and then test the ph. If it stays low, then I am going to begin to cycle the tank.
If I had purchased LR, I would be 60 days ahead on my setup, but hundreds of dollars behind in the wallet. Additionally, my aquascaping is exactly how I want it, and it gives me something to be proud of.
After cycling, I will spend the next few months bringing the rock to life.
Very nice. It took mine about 4 months to show good coralline growth, and numerous inverts; pods and mini featherduster worms. I would recommend that you seed the tank with high quality live sand and/or a few pieces of live rock

.

 

[vayapues]

Originally Posted by Scopus Tang
http:///forum/post/2636112
Very nice. It took mine about 4 months to show good coralline growth, and numerous inverts; pods and mini featherduster worms. I would recommend that you seed the tank with high quality live sand and/or a few pieces of live rock

.
Four months!! That is very encouraging.
Today I added salt to the water, and began the process of cycling the tank. Once it is cycled, I plan to drop some fish in as a survival test. If all goes well, I plan to plumb this tank to the same sump as my 75 g, so that they can share my protien skimmer, and increase the overall water volume.
The protien skimmer is rated for something like 500 g's. I went way over board on it. I am also thinking that I will purchase a water container from my local farm supply store. They sell for about $300, and will hold around 350 gallons. I then will probably set this on the otherside of the wall, and plumb both tanks into it as well, to really bring my water volume up.
The tank itself is black, in order to keep light from causing algea growth in the storage water, which will be perfect for my use.
My biggest challenge is making sure that my sump has enough space for drainage in case of power outage. With that much water in the system, this is a problem I am not sure my current sump could handle.
Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

 

[urbanhellfire]

Iam just wondering why you went with the DT to cure the Cement? and not a garbage can or somthing?
The sand that was in the tank while you were curing is that sand staying?
I would just hate to see any lime leaching into the sandbed and the first time the sandbed gets disturbed, out with the lime.
Just wondering

 

[marvin willis]

Got any more pieces of the rocks?

 

[vayapues]

Originally Posted by urbanhellfire
http:///forum/post/2661993
Iam just wondering why you went with the DT to cure the Cement? and not a garbage can or somthing?
The sand that was in the tank while you were curing is that sand staying?
I would just hate to see any lime leaching into the sandbed and the first time the sandbed gets disturbed, out with the lime.
Just wondering

Had I to do it over again, in all honesty, I would go with the garbage or rubber bin. Curing it in the tank was not one of my brighter ideas to be sure. It has been a pain keeping the glass and sand clean.
The sand is staying. Each time I emptied the tank (about every three or four days) I placed the stream of hose water directly in the sandbed, and stired through it. I have done the same with my hand. I don't think the lime should be a problem.
But for many other reasons, if you are planning a similiar setup, save yourself a lot of hassle, and cure in a bin.

 

[vayapues]

Originally Posted by Marvin Willis
http:///forum/post/2662125
Got any more pieces of the rocks?
Sorry, they are all gone.

 

[vayapues]

Solved my refugium problem.
I had been concerned that tying my two tanks together via the same refugium would not leave enough room for backflow in the event of inevitable power outage.
My current fug only has enough extra space to handle the 75 g tank's backflow. If I added the 125 g. and power went out, the fuge would overflow.
To solve this, I setup a second refugium, and tied both together via a level peice of pvc just above the sand level. Now, if power goes out, the two fuges together will be able to handle the backflow.

 

[nano reefer]

kewlio

 

[iyachtuxivm]

Wow great idea I m looking into it thanks!

 

[vayapues]

Updated Pics

 

[scopus tang]

Looks awesome! Can't wait to see this baby up and running with the rock colored up and covered with coralline and micro-critters

.

 

[vayapues]

It has been 32 days since I started cycling this tank, and 111 days total since beginning the project altogether.
My plan has always been to plumb this new tank to the same refugium as my existing 75 g tank. This way, the entire system would share water, making it more stable.
After testing the water earlier today, and making sure that both the 75 g. and the new 125 g. have the same parameters, I did exactly that. I plumbed the new tank into the now shared fuge of the other, more established tank.
The protein skimmer went crazy for the first several hours. I did not have a PS on the 125, so it had a bit of catching up to do (rated for a 500 g system). A few of my mushrooms in the established 75 g tank shriveled up, but most of the corals appear not to have noticed any change in water quality.
My foxface has become discolored for the past several hours, which he does anytime I do anything in the tank. Hopefully this is not a sign of too much stress.
I have worried about this change a lot, which is why I waited 111 days, to make sure that the water quality was as perfect as I could make it.
The new 125 g. tank has a fantastic diatom bloom, which I am taking as a good sign that everything is healthy and moving forward as it is supposed to.
Now I just hold my breath, and watch the system to see if everything survives the changes I have made.
SCARY!!

 

[azul1994]

Good luck! Looks like it will be quite the tank when everything is done, and you start adding livestock.

 

[vayapues]

updated pic. I have added my fish, and also am getting an explosion of coraline.