Anybody have experience on DIY rock?

rekn, do you have a recipe or any pics? Blueman, I kinda figure since Im in no hurry to get the tank up and running, I can prolly save a few buck and make my own. Plus I can create my own designs too with pillars, arches and ledges. This is still just an idea. I still may go with dry base rock. Live rock isnt a big deal for me. Heck my existing 90 is 90% dry base rock when I started it.
 
castorpollux, thanks for the tip about Ki. Im actually heading to Denver next Sat so I may just stop by Ki's Island.
 
I am really happy that you are making your own rock. I guess I wasn't clear.

For environmental reasons I believe that we should all use man made rock, weather it is aqua-cultured or made from cement. Seed your tank with some sand from someones tank or get 1 or 2 pieces of live rock and finish off the process that way.

I will be following this as the project progresses.
 
unfortunately i dont, this was almost 10 years ago. i think i used the cement/oyster recipe.


when i was finished i dug it a ton. its really cool to make your own shapes and if you dont like it you can pitch it. i also seeded it with rock from the ocean. actually, alot of stuff i had was from my backyard, man i miss the keys =)
 
Well, I made a small batch of rocks over the weekend. It turned out ok but not great. I broke one since I took it out of the molding a bit early. Ill make another batch this weekend and tweak the recipe a bit. Once I get it to where Im satifsfied with the results, Ill post the recipe and instructions on a new thread. It could even be a good presentation on a meeting too I would think.
 
Good idea about doing a meeting with that stuff. Hey did you read about the idea using an inflated rubber glove inside the casting and just deflating it and pulling it out later. I just bought 85 lbs of lace rock yesterday from Scott and some frags too. :)
 
Im going to use different types of balloons. I just want to know the right recipe firt before I start doing some fancy stuff.
 
Not really 9 months but it does take a lot longer then they say if you make larger pieces like I did. I did learn a lot of tips while doing it. I didn't care for the first pieces I made using the Garf method but some of my last rock turned out pretty good IMO. Some of the guys in the club saw it and can tell you if they liked it or not.
Brian
Just about every piece in my tank I made. For better or worse, I don't know but it worked for me.
40521FullShot.jpg
 
Looks good Brian. Got any closeup pics of the rocks? Even if I had to wait 9 months for the rock to cure, it no problem for me really. Im really taking my time on this upgrade. I think I may have to throw out the last batch I made. Its still in its sand mold in the garage. When I checked it this morning, the mold was frozen solid.
 
Here is some of the first rock I made.
40521Rock6a.jpg


Same piece, farther out.
40521Rock6.jpg


a couple other pieces
40521CandyCaneRock.jpg


Another rock.
40521RockWithSomeMoreCorals2.jpg

40521RockWithSomeMoreCorals.jpg


And another
40521MiscRockWithSomeCorals1.jpg

40521MiscRockWithSomeCorals.jpg


The piece Paul has is mostly concrete, I tried using some newspaper as a mold so I made it really thin and strong. to flow inside the paper. It ended up having some of the image on the rock but I still used it. It was great base, very stong.

I tried curing a lot of different ways but using your old saltwater from water changes will work the best IMHO. I was using HCl for a while, tried Sulfuric but the old saltwater was by far the best and DI/RO water is the worst.
 
Thats some nice rock Brian. How long did it take to get corraline to start growing? Do you remember what type of concrete you used? Im using Portland Type I/II. I have read III is the best but cant find it in any local HD or Lowes. I may find it at some local concrete place but I would have to buy a bunch to meet the minimum purchase.
 
Thanks. I thought it was type II/III but it might have been I/II. I think I bought it at Home Depot. It was a big arse bag for sure but still cheap. My tank was only up for about a year or so. I think it started within a few month but I will explain more later, off to an interview right now. Throw any ?'s together and I will try to answer them tonight when I get back.
Brian
 
Anyways, here are some small rocks I created. Right now Im using Portland cement type I/II, crushed oyster shells and rock salt water softener. Ill post the recipe once I got it perfected.
DSC03113800x600.jpg
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DSC03114800x600.jpg
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I like it so far due to its pourosity(sp?) Close up shot
DSC03115.jpg
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DSC03116.jpg
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I like it, now add some spaghetti for the little critters and to maybe attach some of the inside chambers.
Looks very good, much better than my first attempt for sure.
 
I use 4 cups oyster shell, 1 1/3 cup or so portland type I and then mix it very wet. I then add back in 2 cups argonite caribbean play sand to stiffen the mix. My method is to use a wet sand band and then start with the shape. As I build the rock I put tunnels and spaces using wet play sand in the rock. I layer the concrete mix across, connecting the wet mix to each other across the wet play sand tunnels and holes. Makes for very nice rock.

Norm
 
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