douggiestyle
New member
eshook i agree.
that why i apologized.
just thought it was pretty neat stuff.
that why i apologized.
just thought it was pretty neat stuff.
Sugar in aragonite rocks?
- Thread starter Cody Ray
- Start date
douggiestyle
New member
i also think the stuff floats. really floats. really really floats.
douggiestyle
New member
make sure you let that stuff cure before using. check with garf.org on what to do.
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
Ohh no problems... I was just answering the question.
Yes the SG of most LW concrete products is less than 1.00 The products that I pump range from .83 to .94 which is pretty darn bouyant when your trying to fill a hole that has a few feet of water in it
In the case of an aquarium you would have a hard time holding it down. Again this is all becuase most LW concrete products are not pourous (open cell), rather they are air entrained (closed cell). IE not a rock with holes in it, but rather a rock with air trapped in it.
Concrete blocks are pourous, water seeps through them. You want to make concrete blocks, not LW concrete or foamed concrete.
Bean
Yes the SG of most LW concrete products is less than 1.00 The products that I pump range from .83 to .94 which is pretty darn bouyant when your trying to fill a hole that has a few feet of water in it
In the case of an aquarium you would have a hard time holding it down. Again this is all becuase most LW concrete products are not pourous (open cell), rather they are air entrained (closed cell). IE not a rock with holes in it, but rather a rock with air trapped in it.
Concrete blocks are pourous, water seeps through them. You want to make concrete blocks, not LW concrete or foamed concrete.
Bean
douggiestyle
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6525957#post6525957 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
Ohh no problems... I was just answering the question.
Yes the SG of most LW concrete products is less than 1.00 The products that I pump range from .83 to .94 which is pretty darn bouyant when your trying to fill a hole that has a few feet of water in it
In the case of an aquarium you would have a hard time holding it down. Again this is all becuase most LW concrete products are not pourous (open cell), rather they are air entrained (closed cell). IE not a rock with holes in it, but rather a rock with air trapped in it.
Concrete blocks are pourous, water seeps through them. You want to make concrete blocks, not LW concrete or foamed concrete.
Bean
or aac... lol
thats a good point what makes a cinder block so weepy.
ps. im a pgher/mooney
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
A cinder block is weepy simply because of the materials used and the rather dry mix they are set with. Have you ever seen a real "cinder block" they are black (dark grey) compared to the "concrete blocks" that most folks refer to as "cinder blocks".
A concrete block has a lot of aggregate in it, and unlike cememt, the fins and aggregate are not worked to allow the smooth cream to rise to the surface. Concrete blocks are held together by thousands of tiny bonds between the pieces of aggregate. They there forfore react well to expansion and contraction without splitting, and are lighter weight and less brittle than worked concrete. They are also easy to blue togehter becuase of the rough surface. Concrete block are similar to arragocrete if not the same thing with slightly different materials.
Bean
A concrete block has a lot of aggregate in it, and unlike cememt, the fins and aggregate are not worked to allow the smooth cream to rise to the surface. Concrete blocks are held together by thousands of tiny bonds between the pieces of aggregate. They there forfore react well to expansion and contraction without splitting, and are lighter weight and less brittle than worked concrete. They are also easy to blue togehter becuase of the rough surface. Concrete block are similar to arragocrete if not the same thing with slightly different materials.
Bean
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
LOL
AAC... never heard the acronym and will likely never hear it again. The article is informative, but it is also TECH TRADE PAPER BS, trying to sell an old idea to new readers or markets. Its like pouring dry dirt and portland into foundation wall forms, packing it down with a bit of moisture and calling it "Thermal Adobe Structural Foundatation System" or TASFS ( I made this up so don't look for the name, though the concept does exist under several names). Nothing new and nothing magnificant that hasn't been around since the dark ages. Just a new name and new marketing push. Adding that it is from EUROPE is also typical. Not to mention that most of the exotic "fly ash" or "bottom ash" materials come from EUROPE becuase the processes that create them as byproducts have been banned here in the US.
Bean
AAC... never heard the acronym and will likely never hear it again. The article is informative, but it is also TECH TRADE PAPER BS, trying to sell an old idea to new readers or markets. Its like pouring dry dirt and portland into foundation wall forms, packing it down with a bit of moisture and calling it "Thermal Adobe Structural Foundatation System" or TASFS ( I made this up so don't look for the name, though the concept does exist under several names). Nothing new and nothing magnificant that hasn't been around since the dark ages. Just a new name and new marketing push. Adding that it is from EUROPE is also typical. Not to mention that most of the exotic "fly ash" or "bottom ash" materials come from EUROPE becuase the processes that create them as byproducts have been banned here in the US.
Bean
douggiestyle
New member
sounds like arragocrete's the way to go. those garf guys seem to got it under controll. might not want water to move through the rock work too quickly. might defeat the whole aerobic/anaerobic bacteria thing.
douggiestyle
New member
actually aac is gaining in popularity you can cut it and shape it using wood working tools. wood was cheaper. but not so much anymore. sometimes the economy needs to catch up with technology. but yeah they used to call it something else im sure.
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
I have been playing with the stuff for about 15 years. Between LW concrete products and polyurethanes, I have placed enough material to fill a small abyss. In other words hundreds of thousands (a million of so?) of yards of concrete and millions of pounds of polyurethane.
Good luck with your rock project
Bean
Good luck with your rock project
Bean
tabwyo
Premium Member
I have pumped a ton of cement in my time. All oilfield wellbore cementing applications. I have seen what goes into these mixes and I wouldn't want any of it in my tank. Like flyash, when you burn something in your fireplace all that white stuff comeing out of the chimney is "flyash". You don't want anything like that in your water. The best suggestion I have is to use white portland mixed with a large amount of varying graded aggragate suck as CC or oystershell. Don't try to mold it by hand just make a rough impression mold in a container that has a few inches of CC in it.
GoldStripe
New member
I don't think the consistency of the "mud" would lend itself to doing that. I understand the concept though. I though about also sticking a air nozzle from a compressor into the rock randomly to create deeper holes and pockets. You'd have to be careful not to do to the point of making the rock weaker though.
air pockets would be difficult to create(the weight of the material), a sand pocket with a small hole to let the sand out after the rock hardened would be the way to go. once hard, just flush out the sand and fill in your hole with some more agracrete from the next batch.
To do what you are saying, i would make a handfull of rocks, let them harden and then 'glue'(agracreate) them together in any shape you want. let cure for two months and you have a rock! messing with the rocks in the first two days of hardening is just asking for a weak rock.
one ~bad~ thing i have found with all my rock is that i put in two peppermint shrimp a week ago, today was the first time i have seen them. to many noocks and crannies to hide in. I honestly thought they were dead, but they must have found a spot that i cant see.
To do what you are saying, i would make a handfull of rocks, let them harden and then 'glue'(agracreate) them together in any shape you want. let cure for two months and you have a rock! messing with the rocks in the first two days of hardening is just asking for a weak rock.
one ~bad~ thing i have found with all my rock is that i put in two peppermint shrimp a week ago, today was the first time i have seen them. to many noocks and crannies to hide in. I honestly thought they were dead, but they must have found a spot that i cant see.
I've used mostly oyster shells and minimal concrete to make my rocks and they are amazingly porous. Using oyster shells from a feedstore is also very cheap.
I had a lot of problems with curing my rocks, I tried some time in the swimming pool, in the back of the toilet (water change with every flush!) and finally resorted to hanging them off a dock in the Dana Point harbor where my brother had a boat. Until then they were just constantly messing with the ph.
douggiestyle
New member
dont wanna be a kiljoy but wouldnt the oyster shells be a source of silica?
