The Ultimate DIY Rocks!

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I have been curing my 1st batch for a little over 8 wks. now and am wondering if this has all been a waste of time. My Ph is still sky high in the curing tubs. I started the first week changing the water once a week and since then have been changing it on avereage three times a week. Now what has me thinking this has been a waste of time, I just came in from changing the water in my tub and notice some cracks in some of my taller shaped rocks. I was curious to if they had comprimised the structure of the rock and sure enough I could with little effort break the rock apart. then if I squeezed hard enough I could crush the rock with one hand. Has anyone else had this happen?
 
Many people have reported the same experience while about the same number of people have reported success. Since starting this thread, I cannot pinpoint exactly what is causing some people to be successful and others to fail.
 
Most likely not. Albeit I don't use filtered water, but the tank was flourishing long ago and my other tanks haven't seen a decrease. Neither have any of my fellow reefers in my local area. And they have worse piping than I do. My pipes are 100% PVC from tap to city water line.
 
im having the same problem minus the cracks. I have been soaking my rocks for WEEKS and the ph is still off the charts. I also don't fully understand the ammonia process. Can't you just put the rocks into the tank when or if the ph goes down? It's an already established tank. Is the ammonia just for new systems? It seems like it would cause a spike if you put it into an established tank. (but again i don't fully understand it) am i wrong?
 
lastnight i went to HD and tonight i went to lowes and neather has portland type I they do both have portland type I/II will this work cuz if not ill be forced to have them order a full palet and i have to buy at least half of it
 
earlyer in this post (i beleave it was at the end of page 3) i read where some one used sand in the mix is this a must i was under the imprestion that i the mix to use was something like this.

not sure about the what to what ratio is to be but as far as i knew it was

mix water and cement and salt

you can use calcium chloride and acryclic fortifyer if wanted(but no a must)

can some one please give me the ratios i would like to get this right the first time (as i am not wanting to p*ss off my wife to bad while doing this :D )
 
I only have frags of sps in mine. Mainly plating and digitata montis and a few pocillas. I've got one smallish acropora that started from a very small frag about a year ago. Lots of softies and a few LPS.

I've had mine with aragonite rocks for 3+ years now.

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Really, I was wondering if there were any benefits to using aragonite rocks vs. concrete with rock salt
 
The only difference between the two is that the salt leaves the rock porous where more bacteria can grow to help with the biological filtration. A solid aragrocrete rock lacks lots of the porousity that the salt/cement rocks do. Many people use a combination of the aragrocrete and salt/cement in their mixture. Besides biological processes, there really isn't a difference beyond the obvious weight, size, etc.

More or less, you have to ask yourself what you want your rock to do for you. Do you want it to use as aquascaping? To look cool? To filter the water?

Edit: To me, the biological process of denitrification is far more important than the looks of the rocks. Thus, I prefer the Salt/Cement and that's why they are the "Ultimate" rocks for me. Don't get me wrong. The other rocks work just as good for aquascaping, but the end porousity is uncomparable.
 
I meant that I've had mine with agrocrete rocks for 3+ years now.

I soaked mine for 3 months in a river. I don't have any problems with pH, algae, or coral mortality, either. Happy corals and happy fish!:bum:
 
Travis,

What kind of lighting do you utilize? Montis and zoas should be able to survive just about any lighting scheme and very low output. An old or poor quality bulb of the wrong spectrum would encourage nuisance algae but shouldn't outright kill your corals unless they are extremelly reliant on high PAR readings like acroporas.

Try different test kits to see if your getting the same readings on your parameters. Something's outta whack? Lighting alone IMO shouldn't be killing these corals.
 
I've had a 250w 10,000K Coralife Metal Halide with 2x 65w 420nm Actinic Power Compacts. All my corals used to survive and grow like wildfire. I had my bought with algae growth many months ago, and I've already gone past that step with not detectable nutrients. I've tried different test kits from good ol' Salifert to simple Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, and they all have tested the same (with the exception of inaccuracies between different brands). I've stayed up MANY nights looking for predators and there isn't anything. I even resorted to overfeeding thinking that my corals weren't getting enough nutrients, and that hasn't helped any either.

I've been around the block a few times and have looked at every possible angle at my tank and all areas are covered except the lights. I've even looked into testing for all sorts of things that I don't even dose for. Iodine, Strontium, Copper, you name it are all where they should be.

The death of corals really started to take its toll at about 3 months ago. Under the same lighting a few months before they were growing quicker than I could keep up with them, but now they are receeding quicker than I can deal with.
 
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