The Ultimate DIY Rocks!
- Thread starter Travis L. Stevens
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Rhodophyta
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Aragocrete will stick to glass, plastic Walmart bins, mortar boxes, metal tools, etc. However, once hardened and set, you can pop it off by flexing the plastic or hammering from the other side of the metal tool. No safe way to remove it from glass once it is cured that I have found yet. Anyone??? Muriatic acid can remove the residue from your metal tools, and might not react with the plastic, but there is a good chance the plastic may not hold up to the acid. Glass can be etched by muriatic acid, so it is a risky way to remove the 'crete from glass. If you have to try it, mild etching ( a haze on the glass) can be minimized with toothpaste and a buffing wheel. Any adventures with muriatic acid should be outside, protective clothing and eyewear, or in a suitably vented lab. It is also good to have the garden hose already running in case you have to suddenly take a shower. And a buddy to shower you or call the ambulance. Also watch out. If you hose down the acid with water, it will skitter madly and shoot off to places you don't want it to be.
Aqua Keepers
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Aqua Keepers
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Good stuff!
speckled trout
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Try to stay away from making large rocks that are flat on the bottom. You don't want to create a bunch of "dead" spots underneath your base rocks. Ideally, the contact area between the bottom of the rock and the sand bed will be as minimal as possible. Rocks that are fairly large and are basically flat on the bottom create these types of areas. Also, detrius is more apt to collect in these areas creating problems associated with less than ideal circulation.
Travis L. Stevens
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The same rocks are great rocks to put at the bottom of a stack against the glass before you put a substrate in.
Ehgemus
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My ratio is 1-1 rock salt and Portland type II.
My technic is, take some gravel that is about 1"-2" dia and lay it on a piece of wood and lay a bag over the rocks. than I build my reef rocks on top of that, This is so the button on my reef rocks are not flat.
My technic for rock building is I take a big hand full of cement and pluck pieces off of it and stack them together, i crumple up paper and build over that for tunnels.
speckled trout
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Yeah, but the problem is I've seen a lot of people stack these type of rocks on top of the substrate creting dead zones with no or little circulation.
You want lots of circulation around everything in your tank. Try to avoid creating areas where debris, poop, etc. can build up. This will make maintaining good water quality much easier.
You want lots of circulation around everything in your tank. Try to avoid creating areas where debris, poop, etc. can build up. This will make maintaining good water quality much easier.
Stlouphil
Member
I just made my first batch of rock 1:1 ratio salt to portland. Rock looks great. After 24 hours it seems pretty brittle. Does it get harder? 24 hours to soon to judge? What happens after a year in the tank and most of the salt has disolved? Will it crumble. Just concerns I have. Any thoughts?
Ok I decided to try this even though I have 100#+ of base rock sitting around gathering dust. I guess call it an experiment as well as fixing a specific need. This is for a 2.5 gallon tank so I only needed a small amount. If it turns out well I will post pictures.
I used 1.5:1.5:1.5:1 cups (rock salt
ickling saltortland #1:water).
I am not sure of the actual amounts but the rock salt was 4 lbs.
I think I spent $2 for salt and had the portland in the garage.
After making my rock I placed them in garbage bags for 2 days to slow drying. One of my rocks had a small crack and I was able to fix it since the cement was still wet. Two days drying with the bags on top , and 3 days without. Today I started washing the rocks to remove the salt. By using the different sized salts I was able to recreate different sized pores. The rocks are pretty light. After the salt is gone I will use the toliet treatment then salt water.
I used 1.5:1.5:1.5:1 cups (rock salt
ickling saltortland #1:water).I am not sure of the actual amounts but the rock salt was 4 lbs.
I think I spent $2 for salt and had the portland in the garage.
After making my rock I placed them in garbage bags for 2 days to slow drying. One of my rocks had a small crack and I was able to fix it since the cement was still wet. Two days drying with the bags on top , and 3 days without. Today I started washing the rocks to remove the salt. By using the different sized salts I was able to recreate different sized pores. The rocks are pretty light. After the salt is gone I will use the toliet treatment then salt water.
Bleach will not effect the color of the rock. Cement is gray in color and can not be changed. You can get coloring to add to your concrete to make any color you wish for. Our local concrete seller can mix any color you chose in a liquid form. So if you were to call around to your concrete dealers they could possibably sell you a little. I will tell you that a tablespoon of color will do a bag of cement. And also you can buy white cement if you can find a dealer that can get it for you but you will also have to use a really light colored sand to get the white you want.
Not sure why I have smilie faces above and it is too late to edit.
It was suppose to be pickling salt and portland cement. Yeah it is not a big deal but I hate a typo.
It was suppose to be pickling salt and portland cement. Yeah it is not a big deal but I hate a typo.
captinnitro
New member
Could I use epoxy to do the same? I have so much crushed coral and was thinking of making rocks. I was wondering if I used marine epoxy, would I have the same problems with leeching? Or would I have other problems?
Rhodophyta
New member
I saw your concept presented at an Aragocrete workshop at the local reef club. The rocks made didn't have the Portland in them that causes leaching problems and could be used right away after curing. Your first rocks may be a little shiny in spots since it is natural to use too much resin in the resin/aragonite mix. Resin sticks to almost everything so wax or wax paper to has to line the mold. They are very strong so can be made extremely thin.
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