Coloring Portland Cement for DIY live rock

[woodiecrafts]

I have not ever tried making my own live rock although I have read alot of information about it and have been toying with the idea of it in what little spare time that I have.

My question is with the portland cement having to cure and leech out for several weeks anyway, would it be safe to add the coloring agents they have available for dying cement such as reds, browns, ect. to keep it from looking so bland in the begining, or would the dyes have an adverse affect later on down the road.

I know in a period of a few month the coraline algae itself would cover them from my exisiting rock in the tank, but I was thinking it would be pretty cool of they could have a jump start so to speak with a mod of coloring.

Any input or ideas you might have is very welcome.

 

[NightShade00013]

I would not reccomend using the so called dye's. They can often leach out and may use heavy metals to achieve the coloration.

Also since you are going to take a spin at making your own rock and it will take a while to let it cure properly waiting a couple extra months to have coloration shouldn't be too hard of a wait.

 

[One Dumm Hikk]

woodie, I would start by calling your local concrete plant. Ask them for an MSDS sheet on the dye. What it uses for coloration depends on the manufacturer and the MSDS sheet will be where you will find out. From personal experience placing/finishing concrete for almost 20 years, it fades on the surface but doesn't leach back out, it fades instead.

As for coralline, that is a different thread all together as I don't want coralline in my tank.

 

[woodiecrafts]

Thanks Randy, I never thought about the MSDS sheet,,the coloring itself isn't really important, I was more curious than anything, but if it could work, just might be a neat trick

 

[JOSEPHLB]

http://directcolors.com/ConcreteStain/Concrete_Pigment.htm

Are most of these pigments iron oxided based?

Basically.. colored rust, correct

 

[JOSEPHLB]

MSDS on Integral Colors, concrete pigments:

http://directcolors.com/ConcreteStain/msds_documents/integralmsds.pdf

 

[NightShade00013]

That is why I sead that the colorings will leach into the water, anything that has a redish tinit is iron oxide. I have poured large slabs of a red tinted concrete and though it wasn't super noticeable the area's where the water would run across an uncolored slab after passing over the colored slab you would notice a slight color change. The water would pick up a little bit over time and wash it onto the adjacent roadway. This was after only about 3 years.

 

[rick rottet]

what about coloring the rock with purple pvc primer. i saw a guy in one of the st louis forums do that with his foam rock wall.

 

[mmm55645]

Are you sure that you can't use colorants? We talked about this in the Ultimate DIY thread.

you can use quikrete cement colorants, I have used those before with rocks. I also believe you can use colored grout to make your rocks.

I am pretty sure that walt smith premium uses a cement colorant, probably one with iron oxides.


There are also colorants available on ebay


If you don't want to use the colorants, then you can use colored leaves; let them set in the water that you use when you let the rocks "water cure." It is hard to know for sure what color you will get and it might take a really long time to let them soak but it can work. THis method has worked for me.

You can find out about this on the ultimate DIY rock forum.

 

[speckled trout]

You can use Krylon spray paint. Purple and burgundy look good. It hasn't proved toxic to any of the tank inhabitants, either.

That being said, coralline algae will eventually color them, anyways.