DIY Rock PH

[silverado61]

About three months ago I started curing my own DIY rock. The mix was: 1 part Portland- 1 part silica sand- 2 parts crushed coral- 2 parts rock salt. After it cured for about 3 weeks, I placed it in a tub using pvc spacers, filled the tub with tap water, put in a power head and closed it up with the lid. I've been changing the water every 3-5 days

The salinity dropped to zero in about 2 weeks.

The PH stayed off the charts for about a month then slowly dropped to 8.2

It's stayed at 8.2 for over a month. It's still at 8.2 today.

I checked this with 3 different test kits. I started with API, then after it dropped to 8.4 (it took 1-1/2 mths) I switched to RedSea. After three weeks it was down to 8.2. It's been a month since then and it's still 8.2

I've been using tap water for the curing process so I thought it might be the water I was using to cure it and it actually came out almost unreadable.
So I went and got a Seachem test kit and got the same results as the RedSea test.

Is the rock fully cured? I have about a month to go on the stand for my 72g so I still have time to let it continue curing but I was just curious to see if it is, in fact, cured or did I do something wrong.

BTW: the alkalinity of the same water is 2.5

 

[KafudaFish]

Mix up some salt water, test the pH, put the rock in, and retest after a few days.

Sometimes you can get a pH spike but it is often shorter than the freshwater one.

 

[silverado61]

Mix up some salt water, test the pH, put the rock in, and retest after a few days.

Sometimes you can get a pH spike but it is often shorter than the freshwater one.

I'll try that tomorrow and let you know how it goes. Thanks

 

[Ontheway]

Any pics? Just curious..

 

[Johcastro]

Same here, im really curious about the whole process, i was able to find some other ways, there is even people who cut foam, then dip it on concrete and let it dry and it looks really cool, but i want to research over long term result before doing it, by any chance you know someone that has more than a couple of years with one of this rocks on its system? on reef magazine i saw a 400g full of "fake" live rock, for 2 years, but i could not find any clue over that period of time...

Im new to the forum so i dont know if i can post the link here... if you by any chance have ever heard of that, or if i can post the pictures or the link for you to check it out, please let me know... i would love some advise on this...

 

[silverado61]

Mix up some salt water, test the pH, put the rock in, and retest after a few days.

Sometimes you can get a pH spike but it is often shorter than the freshwater one.

I put the rock in saltwater yesterday with a power head. Your right about that spike. Out of curiousity I tested it today. Back off the charts again.

Sorry but I tried to upload pictures today. I've got over 20 photos and I'm not going to type the URL in for each photo.

Why is it that you can't just upload by using a link you can click on?