DIY Live Rock Recipes?

[sales weasel]

Bene,
Wow, 2-yrs in buckets!!! You have me beat. In 1992, I disassembled my 70g to move into a new house. I kept everything alive in buckets and coolers for about 3-mos. I never reassembled it and wound up giving all the living things back to the LFS. I kept all the equipment in a basement storage room until 2003 when I gave it all away:eek1:

We moved into another new home a year ago today. I've had a 12g nano cube for a few months and am now working on three 55s in our basement.

Good Luck!

I'm still working on getting my main tank back online after nearly 2 years in buckets, tubs, and a stock tank. Building my house was a bit more time consuming than I imagined. The new seed tank seems to be coming along nicely though. Then there is my website that developed cobwebs... working on that again now as well.

 

[Bene']

Itsmee,
Thanks, when I get some time, I think I will try to replicate something similar. I really like the connected little cave up front and the larger one rear and off to the side. Quite artistic and I haven't seen that style before.



Sales weasel,
Congrats on the new castle!

The old home sold a bit quicker and for a higher price than anticipated. Both a bad and a good thing at the time. Had to go to temp living until the new one was ready. Due in part to my constant desire for perfection that took much longer than it should have. Then I had to finish the basement by myself which took right about a full year of my free time. Thought I would get more help from family members, but that didn't happen. Thankfully I did get some help with the ceiling sheetrock.

I did minimize myself to only the rocks and the most hardy livestock. I thought all would make it, sadly only most did.

Had I known how long it would be I would have dumped it all and started from scratch. Then again, had I done that I wouldn't have 5+ year old rocks, learned about "cooking", nor what goes on in the inside of this type of rock among other things.

Thanks for the luck, I can always use some of that. Shouldn't be too long now and I might have some stability and my tank time back. Now if I can just get the moles out of the backyard I will be set. lol

 

[lousybreed]

after reading all this it might be cheaper to buy real live rock!!!!! or just have tons of patients!

 

[nightwolf]

I would have to say easyer to just buy the live rock but its all about making things with your hands that makes it worth wile doing. I ben wanting to do this for over a year now and reading this finaly whent and got the cement and I had every thing ells to do this so I thought why not spend the $7 and give it a try

 

[sales weasel]

I'd have to say it's definitely easier to buy the live rock. Especially if you buy the pre-cured stuff like I have in my nano tank. However, I like to make things and yes, it's a pain in the butt and time consuming.

This batch is sitting in a large plastic bin full of water in the garage. I have to complete a bar in the basement that will somehow include a reef. Once I get that all built, I'll have live rock that has coralline growth and bacteria but no, bristle worms or aiptasia I'll introduce all that crap when I add things to the tank

 

[ItsMee]

A benefit of making it instead of buying it, is you can create structures and shapes exactly how you want them.

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

i've been curing my rocks for about a month now, and they still put the ph up around 9.0 ... i notice that others have the same problem, my thoughts are that our tap water may have no hardness whatsoever (mine is between 1-3kdH), so it's possible that w/ the buffering capacity of a salt mix, the ph would be at much more acceptable levels... i.e. below 8.6...

 

[MDogg44]

These are a couple of rocks I made last week.

 

[sunfishh]

Nice table rock mdogg

 

[MDogg44]

Thanks sunfishh.

Here is a cave I made yesterday.I replaced the 1 part sand with 1 part macaroni.

 

[The Shrimp X]

Well i finaly will be making my rock during the weekend, I plan on using, the

1 part cement
1 part PVC shavings
4 part crushed coral
1 part seaflor special grade sand
1 part water


how does that sound?

also i read about adding yeats and sugar to the water to speed the proccess, i really dont want to have to wait 6-8 weeks unless i really have to. Or are there any other ways of speeding up the proccess?

 

[MDogg44]

Sounds good to me Shrimp X,I have heard that using vinegar baths or muratic acid baths help speed the process,but I haven't tried them.

 

[The Shrimp X]

i am leaning on putting the rocks in a vinigar bath for 24 hours after they cure in sand, but whats a good ratio for vinegar and water?

 

[Saltcity]

What do you think of using pea gravel instead of sand in the forming box??

It would give a pourous exterior to the rock?

 

[MDogg44]

I saw a 60:1 muratic acid:water ratio on one of the posts in this thread,but I didn't see a ratio given for vinegar anywhere.

 

[MDogg44]

oops, that should have been 60:1 Water:muratic acid.

 

[ItsMee]

The best way to speed the process is to put it in a place where the water is constantly changing....like a lake, stream, or river. Or put it in a container that has a hose in it that is trickling.

 

[The Shrimp X]

Ok i plan on making 1 rock tonight, but would usig play sand in just 1 rock really do any harm?

 

[The Shrimp X]

ok well i ran into a prob, the mix was like partialy lumpy, but then it was watery at the botom of the clump. it seems like the sand, concrete, and water didnt stay with the crushed coral, did i add to much water? I added 3 cups crushed coral, 1 cup shavings, i cup cement, 2 cups sand, and 1 cup water, where did i go wrong?
I still put it in the mold so we will see what happens in a day or three lol.

 

[Saltcity]

If you use the 5-1 ratio....you put too much aggregate.
From what you said you used a 6-1 ratio.....not enough concrete and maybe not mixed good enough??

I'm gonna make my first one tomorrow so I'll see how it goes...