DIY live rock

[AR0026]

I have decided to make my own live rock... I have searched the net for info and there a lot of ways to make your own rock... I specially like the one with crushed oyster shells, portland cement type 3 an rock salt... From what I read I should mix 3cups oyster, 2 cups cement, and 1 cup rock salt. That's the guild 3,2,1..

I got the crushed oyster shells from a farming fee store.. They feed it to chickens for some reason.. It was dirt cheap. Got 2 - 50lbs bags for $20..
I have the rock salt... A lot left over from this this crazy snow season we have had.
My biggest problem is the cement. For some reason no one has type 3, dose any one know if I can use a different type or even a different brand??? Also, not to sure about the curing process before the water soaking... How long should I leave it out to dry for??

Thanks for reading...

 

[motortrendz]

sounds interesting... tagging along.. but unfortunatly i dont have anything to add right now

 

[stbarnabas]

show us pic when you did it .. i think to cure it will take atleast 7 weeks ...... tagging along also .......

 

[ryangrieder]

Talk to NIGHTCRAWLERZ, he makes his own rock and sells it. I got a piece from him, very nice.

Only thing I Can remember is depending on how you make it, when my buddy made it a few years back, he did it with aragonite and his pH spiked to about 11.5!

 

[ming]

Talk to NIGHTCRAWLERZ, he makes his own rock and sells it. I got a piece from him, very nice.

Only thing I Can remember is depending on how you make it, when my buddy made it a few years back, he did it with aragonite and his pH spiked to about 11.5!

Its not the aragonite, its the cement which causes the pH to go up. Typically, this is why you need to cure it first

 

[ryangrieder]

He cured his for two weeks... Lol I just remember when we tested his ph and it turned black In the vial! Lol

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

I did it takes way to long to cure if you want to drop by and check it out I also have the some Portland cement white and rock salt if u wanna have I'll trade for a frag or something.

 

[AR0026]

Hey Reefers,

Thanks for all the comments.... I can't find the cement that is specified in the mixture I found. So, I'm going to buy like 3-4 bags of all different types/brands of cement and try them out... Other then the PH difference.. What other differences do you think there's are??? I wonder will it be safe for the fish... I'm going to research what Portland type 3 is and try to get something similar... Going to work on it this weekend.

 

[fishman1069]

I did it and it came out great. I used whit portland cement (that I got at a brick yard), rock salt ( magnesium chloride) and aragonite sand. It took a really long time to cure. I kept testing the fresh water that I was soaking it in. I had 10 buckets of the stuff sitting in my garage and I changed the water in them every other day, for a year! The only thing I did wrong was use tap water to do it. I think the rock leached for a while and I had a bunch of algae issues for the first year it was in my 75. I only used it for base rock, but after 2 years you couldnt tell the difference between the LR and my rock. I still have alot of the portland cement left if you want it. Im really far from jersey tho and shipping it might be a hassel. It looks alot like cocaine lol

 

[jcolon2]

I was able to purchase the portland cement at Home Depot when I made some rock.

 

[AR0026]

Just wanted to up date you guys...

We to a mine site... The guy there explained that the only difference between type 3 and type 1 was that type 3 hardens faster...

So I got a bag of Portland cement type 1 pure white...

I'm going to work on making the rock tomorrow... I will post up some pics of the progress...

 

[Jessemac]

I don't have anything to add referencing the making of live rock but, I'm all about DIY projects! Gonna tag along. I'm new to this forum and have only had my 90 gallon set up for a little over a year. With some very unfortunate bumps. Good luck with the rock making. Definitely interested in the outcome!

 

[AR0026]

Just a quick update:

Just finished set it up... Waiting for it to dry to see how it comes out...

 

[AR0026]

Just some more pics.

 

[NIGHTCRAWLER]

you are totally right ming. it's the lime in the cement that spikes the ph up, but i never had a problem with high ph spike when i did mine. i can actually do my rock's and put in tank 2 days later, and within 2 - 3 weeks have coraline algae growing all over it. if you noticed, all the threads and info on making diy rock pertain to using portland, and have ph spikes that are very high. sorry to say, i dont use portland, and thats one reason i dont use it.there are certain steps, and very important on how you mix your ingredients.
all i did was read all the info everyone had on doing rocks, then took that and improved it. took time and finding the secret ingredients to make it work. but you can still use portland to make your rock's, just alot of curing time through. im working on my tank now, and will be all rock that i make.

 

[gholtmeyer]

you are totally right ming. it's the lime in the cement that spikes the ph up, but i never had a problem with high ph spike when i did mine. i can actually do my rock's and put in tank 2 days later, and within 2 - 3 weeks have coraline algae growing all over it. if you noticed, all the threads and info on making diy rock pertain to using portland, and have ph spikes that are very high. sorry to say, i dont use portland, and thats one reason i dont use it.there are certain steps, and very important on how you mix your ingredients.
all i did was read all the info everyone had on doing rocks, then took that and improved it. took time and finding the secret ingredients to make it work. but you can still use portland to make your rock's, just alot of curing time through. im working on my tank now, and will be all rock that i make.

So what is your process? What are you using instead of portland?