Rock making Party

[Blugobi]

Well that all depends on how much rock we make....John says he has two bags of cement...about 160 lbs, so if we use the parts.

160 lbs of cement
160 lbs of sand
320 lbs of oyster shells
??? H20

Now this is if we use all the cement

So Lets say we use 1 bag of cement

80 lbs
80 to 160 lbs of sand depending on 1 or 2 parts and
80 to 160 lbs Oyster shells depending on 1 or 2 parts
Make sense?

so we should end up with about 240 lbs of DIY rock, after curing and its dry

 

[Blugobi]

But keep in mind, we will need sand for the "Molds"

 

[fatrip]

i thought we were useing salt for the molds???

 

[fatrip]

that way it would make little crevases and just get disolved off the rock...and i thought we were goin to use shreaded plastic in the mix to lighted it up a bit???

 

[Blugobi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9942993#post9942993 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fatrip
i thought we were useing salt for the molds???

We can use both for the molds.....user prefrence

 

[fatrip]

right....i just need to know how much sand before 4:00 this after noon...thanks

 

[Blugobi]

Fatrip,

6-8 Bags should do it, plus the 2 bags im bringing will give us 8-10 which should work well.

Geo

 

[RyanM]

8-10 should be fine. it wont go to waste. Any left over im sure one of us would take it..I know id buy a bag if one is left over

 

[Blugobi]

Ok,

I did some math for converting of parts to quantities we can work with. Let me know what you think.


38 cups of cement = 2 dry gallons 1 part
38 cups of sand = 2 dry gallons 1part
76 cups of Oyster shell = 4 dry gallons 2 parts
2 gallons of H20 = 2 gallons….duh 1 part


When mixing in the water, go slow so we don’t turn into soup and have to keep adding in dry to get it back to the right consistency…if that makes sense.


So this should come with about (1½) 5 gallon buckets of “reef rock mud” to work with. We can use the salt, Oyster shells and or sand to make reveres molds on some plastic and make some art….lol

 

[fatrip]

ok so im getting 7, i believe at 7.50 a bag but ill conferm at 1:30 today. sound good??? every one ready to have some early fun on sun???

 

[zanclus]

If needed the Kmart in Cortland has Kolorscape sand if I am correct it is reef safe. It is made by Old Castle. I didnt do the vinagar test but can go back and test it. .the bag says not for aquarium use but most playsand bags say that ,.....
P.S. ... They have Pallets of it.....

 

[Piazzon12]

I believe we'd also want to fold salt into the cement mixture at the end as well, this will help make it lighter and more pourous

 

[fatrip]

i'd say go with the kolorscape....probibly way cheeper...but let me know what we decide bfore 1:30ish...

 

[RyanM]

I have 160 pounds of kolorscape in my tank. Seems to be fine, no ill efects. Im sure it will be fine for our rocks. And yes way cheeper. $4 for 40 was what i got my at. And If they have a whole skid of it, it might not be a bad idea to get enough for the rocks and the bed.

 

[zanclus]

I called Kmart and it is $3.49 + tax per bag so if you let me know how many bags I can jpick it up tonight.....

 

[drbronx]

May as well get 8 bags John. We can get more for the substrate at a later time if thats what we decide to go with. Thanks bunches.

 

[fatrip]

hey are we goin to bake the rock to make this go faster or just let it sit and kure??? and are we going to try and nutrulize the Calcium Hydroxide with an acid??? just things i am wondering to see how long the proccess is acctually goin to take???

 

[zanclus]

Consider it done Jerry ....

 

[drbronx]

cool!

 

[RyanM]

heat isnt good for curing of concrete, stream method with water running over it is far the fastest way that i know of to cure it. If you heat it up it can weaken it. Conrete cures slowly and its stronger the slower it cures. would be a mess if a year down the road our rocks crumble