The Ultimate DIY Rocks!
- Thread starter JohnL
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RandyStacyE
New member
Thanks! I'll check it out. Somethimes the old nogin just goes in one direction ... and keeps goin.
GuySmilie
Premium Member
Same here with the Southdown. No one in central Illinois carrys it.
I read of another good Caribbean type sand that works well for our purpose called YardRight Tropical Play Sand. It's not carried locally either so I fired off an email to them from their website but it bounced back. No phone numbers or physical addresses listed for them.
Guy
I read of another good Caribbean type sand that works well for our purpose called YardRight Tropical Play Sand. It's not carried locally either so I fired off an email to them from their website but it bounced back. No phone numbers or physical addresses listed for them.
Guy
Rhodophyta
New member
Turface, Schultz Aquatic Profile (some dislike the orangy-tan color), macaroni or spaghetti (at least partly cooked, not dry), Black Beauty (if you don't mind a dark color), or dolomite (dryer chips).
I have used dirt, but it was a heavy clay subsoil and it was poked into the substrate to make voids or criscrossed like logs and then the aragocrete poured on. It was not mixed in. I suppose in the summer you could stomp some heel marks into the ground, elaborate on them with a stick or a bricklayer tool called a pigtail, fill them up and then just wait until enough rains have neutralized the alkalinity. I've picked up a few pretty cool pieces that were spilled over the form on a sidewalk job. Some were "improved" with a little drilling and cold chiseling.
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Well, its no longer called 'Southdown'. Its now sold as YardRight Tropical Play Sand. HD SKU# 578-819, UPC#0-210026-16865-5, Model#420-100 Now its sterilized, filtered, etc. for little kids... which is better for us too.
YardRight: www.yardright.com/sand.htm
Oldcastle Stone Products
Easton, PA 18040
YardRight: www.yardright.com/sand.htm
Oldcastle Stone Products
Easton, PA 18040
GuySmilie
Premium Member
Next time I try my hand at rockwork (someday when the blizzards subside), I plan on trying Quikrete's fast setting stuff called Quikwall. I think they make it in two colors; grey and white. I think the white would come closer to simulating real rock:
I've thought long about the trouble folks have with using just the plain old Portland cement and the way it precipitates its leachants so agonizingly slow. So what if a person were able to mechanically bond (or encapsulate) the molecules with an acrylic agent? Something that is impervious to water systems. Maybe that might work.
But the problem with all these specialty cements is that they can get on the pricey side if you're not frugal about it. So after the Quikwall Fast Setting Cement experiment I'm going to go back to just plain old Portland cement, once again, but this time I'll mix it up with some of Quikrete's Concrete Acrylic Fortifier:
I have a hunch that this may help to bind up (or seal in) the leachants over a long enough time span to allow the cement to thoroughly cure. I believe the long water cure times everyone experiences is due to the fact that you can not (in a natural way) hurry up this internal curing that cement must go through. So maybe sealing (or encapsulating in acrylic) at the molecular level would negate that long natural cure process altogether.
Comments anyone?
Guy
Fishboy1230
New member
Sounds like the Acrylic additive will have some effect on cure time. I personally stoped using that exact type of quickwall since the little fiberglass re-enforcing rods. Also it is somewhat more brittle. ill post some pics later of my quickwall rock and some of my regular portland style.
(it aint a blizard in Jersey, more of an ice storm
about 2 inches of ice on every thing including streets!)
(it aint a blizard in Jersey, more of an ice storm
about 2 inches of ice on every thing including streets!)
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
I just use Portland Type#3. It cures faster... much faster. I mix it 4:1 with southdown, then when Im making the shapes, I make a top-coat out of actual crushed coral and arag gravel to give it the right texture.
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
The portland #3 is what GARF suggests in their formula for a reason... you can easily cure it in a month unlike Type #1 (dont even touch #2). Its intended to have a quick early strength, but its also used in pools and ponds due to its more stable chemical nature (pH stability). I forget the exact formula, but the type of concrete is different in its base crystal structure. Its only slightly more $$ than the common Type 1 at the Depot, and dries to be a bright white.
That tank is a 5.5g desktop nano. I have larger tanks now, but never forgot my earlier nano-reef days. I missed keeping the little critters like sexy shrimp and porcelain crabs... so I made a tank just for them. The overflow is an in-sump fuge. I like it because yes, you cant even tell from the front 2 sides. The wall covers the back sides completely, so I can hide pipe in the rockwork, etc, and because of the aragacrete on the walls, the need for additional rockwork in the tank is minimal... leaving loads of open swim/flow space.
That tank is a 5.5g desktop nano. I have larger tanks now, but never forgot my earlier nano-reef days. I missed keeping the little critters like sexy shrimp and porcelain crabs... so I made a tank just for them. The overflow is an in-sump fuge. I like it because yes, you cant even tell from the front 2 sides. The wall covers the back sides completely, so I can hide pipe in the rockwork, etc, and because of the aragacrete on the walls, the need for additional rockwork in the tank is minimal... leaving loads of open swim/flow space.
Fishboy1230
New member
I added a very similar backround to a 10 gallon tank in that exact shape but i used Great Stuff and painted it with blue kryon spray paint.
I think yours looks great!
I think yours looks great!
ashrem
Premium Member
I remember using vermiculite in the soil for plants in my parents nursery but was unsure why or what it was.
Unsure if vermiculite is good in the aquarium but here is a MSDS on it:
http://www.sungro.com/files/professional/MSDS_Sheets/Vermiculite.pdf
MSDS does say keep out of lakes, streams and ponds.
Insane Reefer
New member
You have to be careful of that SKU, in about half the US, that SKU gets you the other sand that Yardright makes, which is a brownish non-aragonite sand.
It all has something to do with trade laws, or so I am lead to believe doing a bit of googling.
And with one or two exceptions, you will find no one posting that they have actually purchased this sand (or any other caribbean sand) in like the last 2 years - those exceptions have been pallet purchases, and one ended up getting a pallet of brown sand, with the right SKU...
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Insane Reefer
New member
My thought would be that when bonding in this way, at a molecular level, you would also prevent the rock from making calcium available to the system - inert rock.
Pattylucylaura
New member
Would it hurt to add a little bit of colored grout to grey portland to lighten it a little?
speckled trout
New member
hahnmeister,
Portland cement comes marked as TypeI/II on the package when you by it from Lowes. I've been using it exclusively for many years without ANY problems. My rocks are very solid and have shown no signs of brittleness. Some of them were made over ten years ago for FW cichilid tanks and are now in my SW tanks. Absolutely no problems. You'd have a lot of trouble breaking them and they don't create any water quality problems, either. It makes great rock.
Hypsoblennius , someone posted that you could buy barnacle blennies from Dr. F&S's, but I've never seen them listed there. I'll have to take some pics of mine and post them if I can get them to hold still long enough!
Also, I've got 5 of them of them in my systems and would be willing to let one go, if you really want one.
They're real characters and don't harm any of my corals. Although, a friend of mine said that his friend caught some while diving and put them in his tank which contained a clam which they occassionally bothered. Mine, however have been perfect citizens, except to any algae. Poor algae doesn't have a chance!:mixed: :uzi:
Portland cement comes marked as TypeI/II on the package when you by it from Lowes. I've been using it exclusively for many years without ANY problems. My rocks are very solid and have shown no signs of brittleness. Some of them were made over ten years ago for FW cichilid tanks and are now in my SW tanks. Absolutely no problems. You'd have a lot of trouble breaking them and they don't create any water quality problems, either. It makes great rock.
Hypsoblennius , someone posted that you could buy barnacle blennies from Dr. F&S's, but I've never seen them listed there. I'll have to take some pics of mine and post them if I can get them to hold still long enough!
Also, I've got 5 of them of them in my systems and would be willing to let one go, if you really want one. They're real characters and don't harm any of my corals. Although, a friend of mine said that his friend caught some while diving and put them in his tank which contained a clam which they occassionally bothered. Mine, however have been perfect citizens, except to any algae. Poor algae doesn't have a chance!:mixed: :uzi:
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speckled trout
New member
I am in the process of building the forms for creating my rock background and overhanging ledge for my 105g. It will be very interesting if everything works out the way that I want it. I'll post pics showing how I make the pieces so that they'll fit together when they're in the aquarium.
My biggest concern is removing all my coral from the rocks that they're on now. I hope that I don't break them up to badly. Unfortunately, I'll probably end up with a bunch of frags, at first!
My biggest concern is removing all my coral from the rocks that they're on now. I hope that I don't break them up to badly. Unfortunately, I'll probably end up with a bunch of frags, at first!
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1414
I have only seen them on sale once, but they have them in stock as of this posting.
I will get a couple one of these days. I already bought some barnacles from an lfs.
I have only seen them on sale once, but they have them in stock as of this posting.
I will get a couple one of these days. I already bought some barnacles from an lfs.
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