Premium Aquatics Got Rock

DamnPepShrimp · Dec 6, 2007

Nice, you can find good deals online, the only thing that gets you is shipping. If you get enough of it, or group buy, you can get some good deals, split shipping etc.

kaptken · Dec 7, 2007

Interesting. I just did a quick search on round trip air flights from Philly to Fiji and back. Air fare was $2036. so figure the average guy at 150 pounds( I only wish) and 50 pounds of T-shirts, shorts and jeans. that comes to about $5 bucks a pound , one way for air shipping. including burger and beer. of course, rock gets less gracious treatment in the hold, and no meals. or curb service. Or beer!??

I don;t know, what are rock shipment charges from the south pacific? one thing for sure, it's a lot of jet fuel.

tat2tillidie · Dec 7, 2007

what other types of rock can you use for a reef tank?

kaptken · Dec 7, 2007

If you have time to plan ahead, you can make your own rock from aragonite and white portland cement. just like GARF does. but it takes about 3 months to cure it and bring down the PH leaching off the portland to acceptable tank levels. and then you need to seed it to make it alive. like with GARF grundge. the best stuff. i used that when i first set up my 75 , 8 years ago. lots of bacteria, bugs, worms, and pods and sponges. in time, it brings the dead rock amd sand bed to life. 5 pounds of grundge will do the trick.

DamnPepShrimp · Dec 7, 2007

I plan on getting either cheap base rock or reef bones (actually petrified coral) for my 360g. I need a lot to build up huge columns in that 3ft tall tank. I have enough live rock to seed it. Anyone use reef bones before? I've also heard about using limestone? Since that was once before live rock many many years ago? There was a guy who put it in his reef tank awhile back, worked good from what I heard. I couldn't wait and deal with 3 months of curing!

a1amap · Dec 8, 2007

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11332851#post11332851 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kaptken
If you have time to plan ahead, you can make your own rock from aragonite and white portland cement. just like GARF does. but it takes about 3 months to cure it and bring down the PH leaching off the portland to acceptable tank levels

I have done this amd it works. you could also use hydraulic cement or a quick cure cenemt. gives you a ahorter work time but once dry (cured fully in 3 days depending on size) you would soak it for a couple days Instead of a month. I soaked my original rock (used portland cement) for 2 months before I put it in the main tank. I used aragonite and some regular sand mix. Cost next to nothing. I made 100 lbs of finished rock and have plenty of cement and regular sand left over to make more then 300 lbs more.
The cement was $5 the sand < $5 and the aradonite 40 lbs was $33.

I learned a lot making the first batch and am going to make the rock for my 210g.
Garf has a lot of info and also this RC Thread
I don't agree with every aspect of the rock they make but they have some great rock forming ideas. This is the last split you can look back there were like 5 splits. A guy named Mr Wilson has made some cool tanks out of Diy rock. Just pan back till you find pics of his tank. One was a 250g that I planed on copying.
If you don't plan on doing it right away, I planned on making about 300 lbs this spring. You are more then welcome to help out

a1amap · Dec 8, 2007

Here is one of Mr wilsons tanks he made out of cement and some live rock.

This is the one I plan on copying. Also The overflow divider will be a rock wall like he did here.

Here is the link : http://www.reefcentral.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=993625

scubadoo2 · Dec 8, 2007

One of the Garf pages says to add plastic shavings to the mix. Did you use that?

a1amap · Dec 8, 2007

No but it would work well. Kind of a rebar effect. Pvc shaving are safe. If I had it I would use it. I am going to use Pvc pipe as a rebar in the concrete. I was also thinking of using great stuff foam in little balls as a filler in the concrete. It would lighten the weight and as many RC members have posted its reef safe as long as you keep the uv light away from it. Uv makes it brittle and it flakes off. Inside a rock I wont have any Uv and it would act as a bonding agvent like the rocks in concrete do.

icy1155 · Dec 8, 2007

Let me know when you are making the rock, I woudl be interested in giving you a hand. I have a few ideas that might be interesting to try as well... such as adding PVC couplings and small pieces of PVC pipe out of the rock so that you just attach one piece of pipe to one coupling and you can aquascape shapes that would normally be impossible. Also, adding the top of a 20 oz. plastic bottle with the spout stickinging out and then put a bit of concrete on the cap as well so that you can mount corals onto the screw on caps covered in concrete. Then you just put the caps back onto the bottle top that is sticking out of the rock. Just some thoughts...

DamnPepShrimp · Dec 8, 2007

I dont plan on making my own rock, little to scared but have some ideas to share. My return comes thru two holes in the bottom of the tank. I am going to mold my rock in a pillar form to cover up the PVC pipe and drill out holes through the rock, for the pipe and out puts so you don't see any plumbing. There was a rimless cube awhile back that ran all the plumbing thru the rock and was viewable from all four sides without seeing any plumbing or equipment, looked really natural, very cool idea.

Jocephus · Dec 8, 2007

Man, I'd love to give this a shot. Al did you use rocksalt in your rock?

tat2tillidie · Dec 8, 2007

me and jon (gordonius) talked one day and i was thinking of doing my aquascape over again and doing a pvc structure. i thought about drillng holes in the pvc then hooking up a powerhead to it so it will blast new water under the rock. my plan was to elimanate the nitrate spike from the still water under the rocks. i used to notice everytime i did a water change that my nitrates would spike. i was told because of the new water being poured in the tank pushed old water that gets hung up under the rock work out. so thats why i wanna put holes in it. plus with the pvc strusture i can really manipulate the aquascape....

but im not gonna use that epoxy
lmao

i'd be more than willing to help ya with the rock making!!! i can play with this sw stuff allday and not get bored...

im addicted

icy1155 · Dec 8, 2007

From what I understand about the chemistry of concrete and its curing process, using rocksalt would make the structure of the cement alot less stable than if it wasnt added. I have heard of rock candy being added in its place which shouldnt affect the chemical structure at all...

tat2tillidie · Dec 8, 2007

you mean sugar crystals?

a1amap · Dec 8, 2007

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11341089#post11341089 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by icy1155
From what I understand about the chemistry of concrete and its curing process, using rocksalt would make the structure of the cement alot less stable than if it wasnt added. I have heard of rock candy being added in its place which shouldnt affect the chemical structure at all...

That is correct. My first batch I added salt to the concrete and it lasted a year before it crumbled. I have found if you use very little it works better. However I found if you use a mixture of salt and araginite sand to form the rock that works best. This would be on the outside of the rock to give it shape. Most of the salt can be knocked off before it fully cures and goes for a soak. You get the cracks and nooks of the salt without compromising the concrete.

I have heard the rock candy also but you would have to soak it a while to get all that out. Concrete does not need all those pockets anyway. It has veins in it from the water. Have you ever poured water on a concrete pad and hear little popping? Concrete natuarly wicks water in. It wont be a problem leaving the salt out or the candy. The dryer mixes look more like rock while the wet mixes have more veins.

a1amap · Dec 8, 2007

a1amap · Dec 8, 2007

I have so many links and favorites I can't find them when I need them. Anyone want to spent 6 months and put them in order? :hmm4:

a1amap · Dec 8, 2007

If you make the pillars use a clear acrylic rod. You can get them local and cheep. Just use mini blind tilt rods used to open and close blinds.

Avaiable from Lowes and the depot along with any drape store.

Jocephus · Dec 8, 2007

I saw a design where someone used rice crispies. They said it all rotted away within a few weeks, and left it very porous. I thought you had said your first batch didn't work so well, that's why I wondered about the rock salt.

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