Manmade Reef Rock

[Travis L. Stevens]

The remaining salt would not cause a problem. In fact, most freshwater tanks would enjoy the slight addition of salt. The largest problem with it would be the rocks bringing the pH up. It would take insane amounts of kuring* time to drop the pH to safely around 7.0

*The term kuring refers to the method of soaking in water to reduce the pH. Confusion was encountered in the previous thread about how people in the cement industry cure the rock for strength and how people in the aquarium industry cure the rock to drop the pH. Both cures are completely different, so the term Kure was adopted for that thread. (I still use cure as a term of dropping the pH because I'm an aquarist )

 

[tgwinn]

I understand the curing for the lower PH...actually, it wouldn't hurt a cichlid tank to have a bit higher PH as they need the PH up around 8.2 or so. So, in this case, adding a bit of crushed coral to the mix would actually help to buffer the water up to where it would need to be. In my old cichlid tank, all of my substrate was crushed coral and I also had texas holey rock in there and my PH stayed rock solid around 8.2-8.3...worked out perfectly.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

If that's the case, then it would be no different than making it for a saltwater tank. For some reason, I was under the assumption that 7.0 and lower was prefered by cichlids. But I'm not much of a cichlid person. Technically though, you wouldn't need the crushed coral unless you really wanted it in there. Portland Cement is powdered limestone anyways.

 

[Serra]

Cichlids are a very diverse group of fish. Cichlids as in Discus require low soft water. Africans on the other hand need hardness and higher pH.

 

[tgwinn]

very true Serra....in this case I have always kept African mbuna which prefer the harder PH. So this would work out great for me being able to shape the rocks with caves and crevises since mbuna are "rock fish" and need caves for territory. Sooo...looks like I have a project for this weekend possibly.

 

[captbunzo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7650639#post7650639 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serra
I agree that mixing the water and cement first is a good idea. Wish I had thought of it.

Hehe - I had to make too batches before I realized I was making that mistake.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7650927#post7650927 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pwhitby
Could you bring some pieces of your man made rock to the next meeting....wherever that would be?

I am going to SO one-up you on that suggestion, Paul...

How about we MAKE some rock at one of the next meetings. A batch can EASILY be mixed and sculpted in under an hour. And its easily something that people could give a try themselves.

Whatcha think? Travis and/or myself could easily do an interactive demonstration.

Of course, we would also want some demo pieces brought along as well. Travis has some really great stuff curing in his bathtub right now.

 

[captbunzo]

Ummm. You know, the pH for kuring diy rock is going to be along the order of 11 for somewhere between 4-6 weeks. I assume that would kill even the hardiest of cichlids.

 

[tgwinn]

yep..it wouldn't be good for them.. I had no intention of using them before the 4-6 week period. Just wanted to make sure that the rock would be safe for use in a freshwater setup before I decided to attempt it .

 

[BlackSumbel]

I've got some peices of Marshal Island rock (and some tonga branch) that I'm going to try making "press" molds of. I should be getting the rest of the supplies this weekend and making about a 10lb batch.

 

[chris4693]

Just thought I would share a couple of pics of rock I made almost 2 years ago.

This is a peice at the back of my tank, you can't really see it but it is arch shaped and hollow, the two corals are sitting in holes in the rock. My 5 inch long Regal Tang makes its home in this rock.

This is a cave type rock with my hammer resting nicely inside.

And last of all this is what 1700 frag disks look like curing in a tub in my back yard.

 

[BlackSumbel]

I found some rather interesting "fruit shapes" ice cube trays today. I think with the porous nature of the salt-n-cement rock mixture these will make interesting "frag" lumps to test some ideas on.

I couldn't locate the bulk water-softener salt at the local stores, so I picked up a few very inexpensive bags of Morton's Rock Salt. We'll see how things go!

Thanks for the info, everyone! There should be photos of the forming this weekend, and some photos of unmolding, curing, and poking-with-sticks thereafter. :lol:

 

[BlackSumbel]

Well, I made some on Sat, and it's now soaking in a large rubbermaid tub. There's some odds, ends, bits, bobs... and whatnots.

There's a few caves, but mostly lumps, hunks, and branches.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Looks good so far :thumbsup:

 

[Paul B]

A large portion of my rock is homemade (the rest I collected)
I build it out of cement covered PVC. Any size or shape can be built, and it is hollow allowing for some nice anerobic bacteria to grow.
This piece is about three feet long.

Here it is during construction.

You can see it here behind the foxface and moorish Idol. The yellow goby is sitting on it.

Here is another smaller piece with a white background for the picture.

 

[BlackSumbel]

I managed to get some really interesting peices by pressing dead rock peices into the sand, and carefully filling in the hole. We'll see how things work out in a few weeks.

 

[Youngsilver]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7669731#post7669731 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BlackSumbel
There's some odds, ends, bits, bobs... and whatnots.

Thats funny when my girlfriend and I made some at travis's house, my girlfriend made some odds, ends, boobs and dingdongs
HAHA

Paul B- that morish idol is fantastic!

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7692756#post7692756 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Youngsilver
Thats funny when my girlfriend and I made some at travis's house, my girlfriend made some odds, ends, boobs and dingdongs
HAHA

Paul B- that morish idol is fantastic!

Ah yes, the immaturity of some :lmoa: They're still curing in the tub

 

[herpchat]

So is this fake rock demonstration still on for this next meeting 15 July?

Or am I looking at an old post.

 

[Serra]

Paul B- those are some incredible looking pieces. Good job!

 

[Paul B]

Thanks Serra