This is going to be a progressive thread i will keep bumped with information on the subject, so keep looking, and keep the criticism coming, cause i eat it up!
=-=-=-=-=-My Mixture-=-=-=-=-=
I begin with the following ingredients:
Note : PPB = Portion Per Batch
*****************************************
* (2) 92.5 lbs. bag of Portland White Cement I/II *
*****************************************
- Price : $19.95/bag ($43.19 Total After Tax)
- Location: Local hardware store (ex: Home Depot)
- PPB: 1
- Total Weight: 185 lbs.
**********************************************
* (4) 50 lbs. bag Crushed Oyster Shells ( Chicken Feed) *
**********************************************
- Price : $6.20/bag ($24.80 Total - Tax Free)
- Location: Local Feed Store (ex: Manvel Feed Supply)
- PPB: 4
- Total Weight: 200 lbs.
Note: If you live in an urban area, reach for the yellow
pages and look under feed supply or tractor supply
call around and ask for crushed oyster shell chicken
feed (its a supplement added for digestion).
*******************************
* (8) 40 lbs. Finest (Brand) Play Sand *
*******************************
- Price : $2.22/bag ($19.22 Total After Tax)
- Location: Local Gardening Center (Ex: Houston Garden)
- PPB: N/A
- Total Weight: 320 lbs.
Note: This stuff is dirt cheap (no pun intended), and i find
it to be cleaner than the play sand you find at home
depot for the simple reason that its from a specialty
store, which "usually" means higher quality product
Other Items:
- Rits Dye
- Free ( laying around the house )
- Bubble Wrap (small bubbles)
- Free ( laying around the house)
- (2) 50 Gallon Rhino Containers w/ Lid
- Price: 19.99/ Container ($43.28 Total After Tax)
- Location: Hardware Store (ex: Home Depot)
- Random Amount Of Pasta
- Price: Free - $20.00
- Location: Grocery Store (ex: Randall's/Krogers)
- Note: Use Various Shapes
- Anchellini (great for bubble shapes)
- Ziti (great for making small surface area increase)
- Macarroni (same as above)
- Rochetti (really cool shape)
- Chiocciole(amazing shape)
- Conchiglioni (shell shape)
- (3) Cheese Cloth
- Price: $2.98/package ($3.59 Total After Tax)
- Location: Hardware Store Paint Dept. (ex: Home Depot)
- (2) Water Hose Connector w/ Shutoff (3/8 inch input)
- Price: $2.19/unit ($4.74 Total After Tax)
- Location: Hardware Store Plumb. Dept. (ex: Home Depot)
- Note: These will be explained later.
people also like to add argonite sand, or sea shells from the beach to thier mixtures, choose your mixture to your taste, not mine. This is the mixture i used because i wanted durability, and the most porous mixture i could acheive.
======================
= Total Price: $138.82 =
= Total Lbs of DIY LR: 385 lbs =
= Price/Lb of DIY LR: $0.36/Lb =
======================
--At 3.25/Lb at your LFS 385 lbs of LR (uncured) would run you
approximately $1251.25
--I HIGHLY APPROVE OF MAKING YOUR OWN LIVE ROCK BECAUSE:
A. Easy on the wallet
B. Does not deminish from the Live Rock supply in the ocean (where it rightfully belongs)
C. You have the ability to make the Live Rock in the shape you desire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, now that we have all the stuff, lets get started.
1. (x2) Drill a hole in the bottom of the plastic container (make sure its the size of the connector you are planning to use, i used a 3/8 inch drill bit)
2. (x2) screw in the water hose connector to the hole accordingly, and test fitting by adding water into the container and check for leaks ( seal if neccesary)
-Note: This makes draining easy by just keeping the container where it is while curing, all you have to do is screw in the water hose, and place the outflow end where you want it to drain (into street for me) and turn the valve to let the flow out, the water pressure and gravity should allow for most of the water to leave.
3. Get a rough idea of how you want your DIY LR to look
Tips: Think 3-D when designing your rocks, and build from the bottom up.
Keep in mind the following concepts when brainstorming LR:
-Utilitarian, sturdy base
-Largest Surface area possible (more surface area, more biological filtration)
- caves + relaxing/hiding areas for your livestock
- you want to keep your livestock entertained (seriously) by have many swimming paths, holes, caves tunnels, etc.
4. Fill a seperate container(s) with the play sand only a few inches deep (you should choose your container accordingly to your tank size, and how large you want your piece(s) (ie: for a tank 24 inches high, you dont want to make a piece of DIY LR thats 36 inches high)
5. Once you have your sand in place wet it with a mist of the water hose (you want it to be like the sand at the edge of the water at the beach) and begin designing your live rock in a 3-D pattern by removing the sand out with your hands/tools. where you remove is where you will be filling in.
begin with the base area of the rock.
6. Once you have your base area designed, begin making your agrocrete mixture by adding 4 parts crushed oyster shells to every 1 part Portland White Concrete I/II Mix, i also like to mix in a little bit of play sand (only maybe a handful) to get a grain-like effect (from what i have read, silica play sand will have no short term or long term effects on your reef) Mix the dry components well
7. Once you have the dry components evenly mixed begin adding water will mixing evenly amongst the dry mix ( should be 1 part water that is equal in volume to the cement)
8. mix until you get an outmeal like texture of the DIY LR mix, you can add any of the components to get the texture you prefer, i like to add more shells to give more surface area and more porous rocks.
9. At this point, i like to spread the pasta mix of assorted pastas over the areas of where the LR mix will come in surface contact with. I also like to place small pieces of cheese cloth and/or bubble wrap the same way as thep pasta in order to get different types of surface areas (cheese cloth gives a scored effect, while bubble wrap creates a honey comb effect)
10. Begin scooping out the LR mix of the container and placing it accordingly into the spots you have created (with or without the "texture creators")
11. Begin moving up the sculpture by adding more wet sand ( i like to keep this on hand in a seperate container ( some people use dry sand) and filling in the hollow areas ( add "texture creators" as you choose)
Tip: Think unique creations, yet balance, you dont want to ruin something just because it wont stand up-right
12. Once you are satisfied with your sculpture, set aside to dry and repeat as much as you want, (you got 385 lbs to play with)
13. The Drying process depends upon the mixture you made, it will normally take 24-48 hours, so keep a constant eye on the rock, but be extremely careful when removing from the same. (Patience is a virtue).
14. Once fully dry, hose the rock off and physically remove any left over sand, pasta, bubble wrap, cheese cloth, etc.
15. Set aside to dry again
16. Place safely inside of your new curing bin.
Something i discovered along my trials and tribulations:
I realized that there is something to be had with frags, so i had a brainstorm. Here it is, goto the local grocery store and pick up a pack of the plastic mouth wash dixie cups. Catching on yet???
fill about 10 cups with your mix, and if you place the cups randomly inside your LR while creating it, you have a self made, fitting to glue your corals to, and when you remove the cups your fittings will fit snuggly into the crater created by the cups (pics coming soon). Giving you a way to move corals when neccesary without and harmful/damaging mods to your rock. if any needs more info to understand this (dont know if i explained it well) just reply to this thread. you could also use these plugs for a propagation system for corals.
More to come when the curing begins. Leave any experiences, comments or suggestions, hopefully this will become a sticky,
Sincerely,
DLChaney
=-=-=-=-=-My Mixture-=-=-=-=-=
I begin with the following ingredients:
Note : PPB = Portion Per Batch
*****************************************
* (2) 92.5 lbs. bag of Portland White Cement I/II *
*****************************************
- Price : $19.95/bag ($43.19 Total After Tax)
- Location: Local hardware store (ex: Home Depot)
- PPB: 1
- Total Weight: 185 lbs.
**********************************************
* (4) 50 lbs. bag Crushed Oyster Shells ( Chicken Feed) *
**********************************************
- Price : $6.20/bag ($24.80 Total - Tax Free)
- Location: Local Feed Store (ex: Manvel Feed Supply)
- PPB: 4
- Total Weight: 200 lbs.
Note: If you live in an urban area, reach for the yellow
pages and look under feed supply or tractor supply
call around and ask for crushed oyster shell chicken
feed (its a supplement added for digestion).
*******************************
* (8) 40 lbs. Finest (Brand) Play Sand *
*******************************
- Price : $2.22/bag ($19.22 Total After Tax)
- Location: Local Gardening Center (Ex: Houston Garden)
- PPB: N/A
- Total Weight: 320 lbs.
Note: This stuff is dirt cheap (no pun intended), and i find
it to be cleaner than the play sand you find at home
depot for the simple reason that its from a specialty
store, which "usually" means higher quality product
Other Items:
- Rits Dye
- Free ( laying around the house )
- Bubble Wrap (small bubbles)
- Free ( laying around the house)
- (2) 50 Gallon Rhino Containers w/ Lid
- Price: 19.99/ Container ($43.28 Total After Tax)
- Location: Hardware Store (ex: Home Depot)
- Random Amount Of Pasta
- Price: Free - $20.00
- Location: Grocery Store (ex: Randall's/Krogers)
- Note: Use Various Shapes
- Anchellini (great for bubble shapes)
- Ziti (great for making small surface area increase)
- Macarroni (same as above)
- Rochetti (really cool shape)
- Chiocciole(amazing shape)
- Conchiglioni (shell shape)
- (3) Cheese Cloth
- Price: $2.98/package ($3.59 Total After Tax)
- Location: Hardware Store Paint Dept. (ex: Home Depot)
- (2) Water Hose Connector w/ Shutoff (3/8 inch input)
- Price: $2.19/unit ($4.74 Total After Tax)
- Location: Hardware Store Plumb. Dept. (ex: Home Depot)
- Note: These will be explained later.
people also like to add argonite sand, or sea shells from the beach to thier mixtures, choose your mixture to your taste, not mine. This is the mixture i used because i wanted durability, and the most porous mixture i could acheive.
======================
= Total Price: $138.82 =
= Total Lbs of DIY LR: 385 lbs =
= Price/Lb of DIY LR: $0.36/Lb =
======================
--At 3.25/Lb at your LFS 385 lbs of LR (uncured) would run you
approximately $1251.25
--I HIGHLY APPROVE OF MAKING YOUR OWN LIVE ROCK BECAUSE:
A. Easy on the wallet
B. Does not deminish from the Live Rock supply in the ocean (where it rightfully belongs)
C. You have the ability to make the Live Rock in the shape you desire
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, now that we have all the stuff, lets get started.
1. (x2) Drill a hole in the bottom of the plastic container (make sure its the size of the connector you are planning to use, i used a 3/8 inch drill bit)
2. (x2) screw in the water hose connector to the hole accordingly, and test fitting by adding water into the container and check for leaks ( seal if neccesary)
-Note: This makes draining easy by just keeping the container where it is while curing, all you have to do is screw in the water hose, and place the outflow end where you want it to drain (into street for me) and turn the valve to let the flow out, the water pressure and gravity should allow for most of the water to leave.
3. Get a rough idea of how you want your DIY LR to look
Tips: Think 3-D when designing your rocks, and build from the bottom up.
Keep in mind the following concepts when brainstorming LR:
-Utilitarian, sturdy base
-Largest Surface area possible (more surface area, more biological filtration)
- caves + relaxing/hiding areas for your livestock
- you want to keep your livestock entertained (seriously) by have many swimming paths, holes, caves tunnels, etc.
4. Fill a seperate container(s) with the play sand only a few inches deep (you should choose your container accordingly to your tank size, and how large you want your piece(s) (ie: for a tank 24 inches high, you dont want to make a piece of DIY LR thats 36 inches high)
5. Once you have your sand in place wet it with a mist of the water hose (you want it to be like the sand at the edge of the water at the beach) and begin designing your live rock in a 3-D pattern by removing the sand out with your hands/tools. where you remove is where you will be filling in.
begin with the base area of the rock.
6. Once you have your base area designed, begin making your agrocrete mixture by adding 4 parts crushed oyster shells to every 1 part Portland White Concrete I/II Mix, i also like to mix in a little bit of play sand (only maybe a handful) to get a grain-like effect (from what i have read, silica play sand will have no short term or long term effects on your reef) Mix the dry components well
7. Once you have the dry components evenly mixed begin adding water will mixing evenly amongst the dry mix ( should be 1 part water that is equal in volume to the cement)
8. mix until you get an outmeal like texture of the DIY LR mix, you can add any of the components to get the texture you prefer, i like to add more shells to give more surface area and more porous rocks.
9. At this point, i like to spread the pasta mix of assorted pastas over the areas of where the LR mix will come in surface contact with. I also like to place small pieces of cheese cloth and/or bubble wrap the same way as thep pasta in order to get different types of surface areas (cheese cloth gives a scored effect, while bubble wrap creates a honey comb effect)
10. Begin scooping out the LR mix of the container and placing it accordingly into the spots you have created (with or without the "texture creators")
11. Begin moving up the sculpture by adding more wet sand ( i like to keep this on hand in a seperate container ( some people use dry sand) and filling in the hollow areas ( add "texture creators" as you choose)
Tip: Think unique creations, yet balance, you dont want to ruin something just because it wont stand up-right
12. Once you are satisfied with your sculpture, set aside to dry and repeat as much as you want, (you got 385 lbs to play with)
13. The Drying process depends upon the mixture you made, it will normally take 24-48 hours, so keep a constant eye on the rock, but be extremely careful when removing from the same. (Patience is a virtue).
14. Once fully dry, hose the rock off and physically remove any left over sand, pasta, bubble wrap, cheese cloth, etc.
15. Set aside to dry again
16. Place safely inside of your new curing bin.
Something i discovered along my trials and tribulations:
I realized that there is something to be had with frags, so i had a brainstorm. Here it is, goto the local grocery store and pick up a pack of the plastic mouth wash dixie cups. Catching on yet???
fill about 10 cups with your mix, and if you place the cups randomly inside your LR while creating it, you have a self made, fitting to glue your corals to, and when you remove the cups your fittings will fit snuggly into the crater created by the cups (pics coming soon). Giving you a way to move corals when neccesary without and harmful/damaging mods to your rock. if any needs more info to understand this (dont know if i explained it well) just reply to this thread. you could also use these plugs for a propagation system for corals.
More to come when the curing begins. Leave any experiences, comments or suggestions, hopefully this will become a sticky,
Sincerely,
DLChaney
