The Ultimate DIY Rocks!

[dzfish17]

Ive been reading about a product called acryl 60. Has anyone tried using it for the diy rocks to make them stronger?

Dave

 

[Rhodes19]

To make them still still porous do you just use a "drip" type method when building the rocks?

Is it best to let them sit a few days and air dry after you pull them out of the mold before soaking them?

I think the drip method was used more for making a specific shape/look to the rock. I think porous was more related to the size of the aggregate and how compact the mix was. But don't hold me to that though.

I recall reading a debate over whether or not to air dry the rock for a while verses dropping it into the water after a couple of days in the mold. What I want to say is that keeping the rock moist while in the mold and then several days to a week before going into the water helps strengthen the rock. I know concrete workers will hose down or put a sprinkler on newly poured driveways, sidewalks etc to help keep the heat generated down to reduce cracking/failure occurring. I am definitely out of my area of expertise here.

Folks here have done this many different ways but for our purposes, I don't think we can go to wrong with what ever way we do it.

 

[Rhodes19]

Ive been reading about a product called acryl 60. Has anyone tried using it for the diy rocks to make them stronger?

Dave

Never heard of it before but I just googled it. It looks like its an additive to cement and aggregate for added flexibility and reduce brittleness. It will be interesting if any one has used it.

 

[Fish'InMN]

Acryl allows better adhesion to plastics. It won't do anything just mixed into a batch of cement.

 

[Dwerbs]

I am pretty sure this is the longest running thread ever. From scanning through everything as far as I can tell the mixing ratio is really up to your personal preference. But just making sure about the cement, what is the best to use so that there is strength and none of that nasty stuff that will like, kill my tank

 

[TheFishMan65]

Seems like I have been soaking rock forever. I change the water almost daily. However I am using RO waste water. Is that good, bad or doesn't matter? I thought it wouldn.t matter, but I am begining to wonder.

 

[widmer]

I'm curious about this as well... Wouldn't it technically have increased levels of copper assuming the home has copper pipes? I would wonder if this could adsorb onto the rocks much and be trouble later...

 

[TheFishMan65]

Hmm, new home so mostly PVC. Coming from the street might have some copper. But that is a good thought wonder what people will say.

 

[Greenmaster]

The time that the water "touches" the pipes isn't a big deal... if you are worried you could flush the water for 10-30 seconds to get the stagnant water out.

 

[zhewitt04]

I did my own live rock and use the method I found on youtube.com. I typed in DIY live rock by ed. He does a great job explaining it. I put my rock in a cooler to cure for about 4 months with little change. I did a water change everyother to every three days. My pH was still high so I put it in a laundry basket and threw it in a creek. A week later here it is in my tank what do you think?

 

[zhewitt04]

Also I used the type II portland grey cement. Works well and the color won't matter once coraline is all over it.

 

[widmer]

The time that the water "touches" the pipes isn't a big deal... if you are worried you could flush the water for 10-30 seconds to get the stagnant water out.

Yea I've always been curious about this... Especially since one of my tanks I had full of DIY rock when I set it up, and bizarrely enough, all softies that I put in there on the rocks (ie zoas mushrooms etc) would slowly but surely decrease in size. And of course like most reefers I want to attribute it to one single reason :lol:

 

[goldmaniac]

Yes, kuring it until the pH is down does take forever, it seems.
RO wastewater is great to use
copper pipes: I've always wondered about it myself, using water that's NOT RO wastewater, but I did that and didn't have any problems. buy a copper test kit and check the levels BEFORE every water change in the bucket of MMLR, see if it's going up or down...

 

[Greenmaster]

My rocks are almost done curing... I had them in the ocean for about a month and I had them in my tank cycling water for about 2 months (the rocks have been in longer just not always water in there.) I'm hoping that within the next couple of weeks I'll be done... My PH is 8.2 after one week in water. Once it stabilizes at 7.8 I'll try adding salt.

 

[TheFishMan65]

I thought 8.2 was fine since that is the normal range for a tank.

 

[Greenmaster]

8.2 when it has salt in it is okay... but with only fresh water it is not... salt will raise the PH by .3 to .7 so with fresh water you want it to be at the 7.7 -7.9 range before adding salt... or if you have another tank that you do water changes with then you can be using salt water and be aiming for the 8.0 - 8.4

 

[TheFishMan65]

Oh joy, a longer wait, but thanks for clarifying. 4 months someone said 2 more to go! maybe

 

[RenoR1]

I'm up to 2.5 months. I just check my PH's for the first time. Yikes! The rock is at 9.99. The RO wastewater I have been using is 9.1

Which is weird because the RODI water is at 7.9.................

So I am thinking about finding a creek and tossing them in. That's a little hard though here in nevada!

 

[kcress]

You should think about re-calibrating whatever you're using for a meter.

 

[Greenmaster]

you should think about re-calibrating whatever you're using for a meter.

+1