Lets see your Ultimate DIY Rocks!!!

[airinhere]

I have been following the Ultimate DIY Rocks thread for a very long time and would like to start a thread where people can showcase their finished rocks.

Mad props to Travis Stevens, Insane Reefer, Mr Wilson and many others who helped me figure out how to make this stuff.

C.mon everybody, I know there are some crazy looking pieces y'all have made.

Show them off!
This is for a 240 gal tank. Full back wall.

Far left piece

middle

far right side

This is my 120 gal anem/zoo/mushroom tank

These next two are my 90 gal reefs.

and my 120 full of corals (skimmerless)

 

[Insane Reefer]

Can I live in your backyard?

 

[seanb1]

those rocks look great,what recipe did you use?

 

[airinhere]

Old Skool Recipie. 1 part white cement, 1 to 2 parts aragonite sand, 1 to 2 parts solar salt. Mixed just wet enough to be like soft clay. I make wood forms to pour and use extra salt to make lots of caves and ledges.

 

[mr.wilson]

Before

After

 

[mr.wilson]

The rock is live rock that has been cemented together. The two end walls are covered in 50/50 crushed oystershell and quick-setting cement. This is what it looked like new.

Here it is after 7 months. The live rock in the tank really helps speed up the population increase of coraline algae etc.

 

[mr.wilson]

This tank has live rock cemented together with the two end panels and internal plumbing coated in 50/50 crushed oyster shell and fast setting cement. The tank is 4' deep so I had to climb up one ladder to get on it, then down another to get in it to apply the cement.

 

[mr.wilson]

This tank has live rock with end walls and plumbing covered in oystercrete.

 

[sanosuke]

Wow. nice diy project

 

[alpine]

Great looking projects guys,keep up the great work.

 

[ooba]

That all looks really nice. does the purple coralline algae grow as well on it as the live rock?

 

[Insane Reefer]

Sure it does, Ooba. You need to "seed" it of course, but honestly, it is as good as real rock, and depending on what you can get locally, often much, much better.

 

[skoomamonster]

Looks good but what do you think would be the best recipie to make the rock cure faster and be lightweight?

 

[Insane Reefer]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1156212&perpage=25&pagenumber=18
It is over 100 pages long, so pointed you to the page with the "Super Long Post" - this is an accumulation of info for the rock noob.

So played a lot of Morrowind, SkoomaMonster? LOL - Love those games

 

[mr.wilson]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10543690#post10543690 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ooba
That all looks really nice. does the purple coralline algae grow as well on it as the live rock?

The cement has quite a bit of calcium and carbonates that are bioavailable for coraline growth. As long as you don't have diatoms, dinoflagellates, or any other nuisance algae it will grow just as fast or faster (due to lack of competition) as it will on live rock.

After 7 months you can see 90% coraline coverage.

 

[Insane Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10544838#post10544838 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mr.wilson
As long as you don't have diatoms, dinoflagellates, or any other nuisance algae it will grow just as fast or faster (due to lack of competition) as it will on live rock.

Newly made rock also contains a small portion of unhydrated lime, etc, or at least this is the case for traditional portland, and possibly not the case with the fast-set cements. Lime is a plant fertilizer. So it should be noted that diatoms and green algae will grow on most new rock, even if added to a brand new tank with new saltwater and nothing used from another system, etc...
It is just part of the rocks maturation process.

 

[mr.wilson]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10544873#post10544873 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Insane Reefer
Newly made rock also contains a small portion of unhydrated lime, etc, or at least this is the case for traditional portland, and possibly not the case with the fast-set cements. Lime is a plant fertilizer. So it should be noted that diatoms and green algae will grow on most new rock, even if added to a brand new tank with new saltwater and nothing used from another system, etc...
It is just part of the rocks maturation process.

Lime is not a plant fertilizer, it's a "soil amendment" used to increase the PH.

 

[Insane Reefer]

Semantics. Many places call it a fertilizer, "Lime Fertilizer" - I can post links if you like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer
QUOTED TEXT:
Inorganic fertilizers (mineral fertilizer)
Example of naturally occurring inorganic fertilizers include Chilean sodium nitrate, mined "rock phosphate," and limestone (a calcium source).

Either way, many plants like it, and grow better for its presence...
Algae is one of those.

Anyway, let's stop hijacking Air's thread - if people really want to get down to the nitty-gritty about MMLR, they are more then welcome to join us over in the ULTIMATE DIY ROCK Thread

Let's see more Pictures!!!

 

[mr.wilson]

Here are some pictures of a rock I made 15 years ago and never used. It's a 12" x 7" piece of pumice that I carved out with a screw driver. It was smooth and round before I started carving. You can use a hammer to take out more substantial sections, or a drill or grinder if you're in a hurry.

It only takes about 30 minutes to do if I remember correctly. It sinks once you get the air out of it.

It's reef safe, but not by any means the ideal media to use. I use pumice to make waterfalls for rainforest walls from time to time. I use cement to bond a bunch of smaller rocks together to make one big outcropping.

It's very cheap and practically weightless. The material is brittle enough that you could push a frag plug into it or interlock it with other rock.

 

[Insane Reefer]

That stuff is sold in the horse hobby as a fly-bot (eggs) remover, in tiny 6x4 blocks for like $5. Maybe I should just pick a piece up at HD and use a file to flatten a side.

I've wondered about using it in a FW tank, but I am so past FW that I don't even go to that side of the LSF, lol.