The Ultimate DIY Rocks!

so question, i have made my DIY live rock over a month ago. for about 3 weeks i did daily water changes, then for the past 2 weeks i soaked them in RO/DI, how ever the spare power head i had running in the tote, i needed for something else. obviously no water movement, but my question is. over these past 2 weeks. every day i check the rock and there is a film ontop of the water! any clue wut it is? looks like a white spotty film...not sure if it was there before cuz of the powerhead, so i dont wanna add the rock to an established system if it is still leeching something.....any body have a guess?
 
maddmaxx said:
so question, i have made my DIY live rock over a month ago. for about 3 weeks i did daily water changes, then for the past 2 weeks i soaked them in RO/DI, how ever the spare power head i had running in the tote, i needed for something else. obviously no water movement, but my question is. over these past 2 weeks. every day i check the rock and there is a film ontop of the water! any clue wut it is? looks like a white spotty film...not sure if it was there before cuz of the powerhead, so i dont wanna add the rock to an established system if it is still leeching something.....any body have a guess?
Click to expand...

It's efflorescence, something that happens in concrete formulations. Calcium hydroxide migrates to the surface of the concrete. If it's exposed to air as it would be on the surface it changes to calcium carbonate.

Here's a quote...."œFor efflorescence to occur, four things must be present"”salt, moisture, a physical force, and an opening," says Bill Lunsford, an efflorescence expert and president of Phoenix, AZ-based K.W. Lunsford & Associates......
I can think of three of those four things we are sure to have plenty of.


http://www.paintpro.net/Articles/PP202/PP202-Efflorescence.cfm
 
I'm made a bunch of this since my last post, found a couple things of note.

I tried the Quikwall and wasn't pleased at all by comparison to regular portland. I fiberglass shards in it are problematic from a sculpting perspective - although they can be sifted out (I'm sure they are fine for the reef from a chemical standpoint), and the set-time is a bit misleading when you add any sort of aggregate. It would set in closer to 2 hours than 10-15 mins, and still required the full 24 hour rest to be "movable" for cleaning etc. From a setting standpoint, it's no better than regular cement. I tried many mixes, the 50/50 Quickwall/CC was the best in terms of malleability and strength that I found.

That said, even after about a week (even two) of curing, the pieces we extremely brittle and crumbly. It also dries with a "sheen" of sorts and is very waterproof, regardless of what people seem to be reporting, it really doesn't absorb water well. Kind of sucks, this stuff seemed awesome reading about it. I'm sure it's great for bonding rocks together or doing decorative work that you aren't depending on for biologic filtration.

So far I've had the best results using Portland Type I (the only kind I can seem to find, and finding it in white is like a needle in a haystack around here), even with the extended curing. It's harder, much more stable, and just looks better. Unless someone has other methods for using the Quikwall, or something I'm missing with it, I'm going back to regular portland and just doing it the old fashioned way.
 
kirdro said:
Anyone tried ice in their mix yet?
Click to expand...

Haven't tried it, but can't see how it would work... wouldn't hold up before melting. The mix takes overnight to harden, the ice would melt long before then and add too much water to the mixture. You want it to set up overnight in a warm, moist area for highest integrity, and ice would hinder that purpose.

Could maybe work with a fast-set, but you'd still have to fight the problem of the ice melting and water potentially ruining your mixture - just over a shorter window. Sticking with salt is probably the best idea, and it's pretty damn cheap. I myself wasn't pleased with it, the rock is porous enough without it, just a PITA if you ask me.
 
OranguTang said:
Is everyone using tap/hose water to mix or RO? I am concerned about copper leeching.
Click to expand...

The amount of copper in the water you would use to mix concrete would be negligible. Copper is a trace element and is okay as long as you don't accumulate it with evaporation top off.
 
Has anyone made a back wall? I want to do that for my 34g Solana but don't know how thick I should go. Is there a way to reinforce it? Just don't want it to break.
 
rocks made with white portlant cement

rocks made with white portlant cement

Afishianado said:
oh and any pictures of the dancing rock? also any rock that was made from white portland vs gray portland. I wonder how the appearance of the 2 differ over time.
Click to expand...

These 2 pics are of my first rocks ever made. I used white portland and aragonite only. The 3 rocks are put together to make an arch. My later rocks are more porous and have a lot more holes.

<a href="http://s1365.photobucket.com/user/Kevin_Olivier/media/3piecerock_zps0a9c9dd2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1365.photobucket.com/albums/r741/Kevin_Olivier/3piecerock_zps0a9c9dd2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 3piecerock_zps0a9c9dd2.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1365.photobucket.com/user/Kevin_Olivier/media/3piecerock-disassembled_zpsfcc94e25.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1365.photobucket.com/albums/r741/Kevin_Olivier/3piecerock-disassembled_zpsfcc94e25.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 3piecerock-disassembled_zpsfcc94e25.jpg"/></a>
 
Paint or pigment? Safety?

Paint or pigment? Safety?

mr.wilson said:
Coraline will cover the rocks in six months, as cement is rich in calcium. There is no benefit to plastic, and as you mentioned it detracts from biological capacity.

Latex paint is the best way of adding pigment to the rock until the coraline inevitably takes over, but I doubt it is more conducive to coraline growth than bare concrete, regardless of aggregate type (aragonite, perlite, silica etc.).
Click to expand...

How many folks have tried latex paint? I was wondering about any harmful reactions. The down side to it is that moving it could scrape some off.

InsaneReefer recommended concrete pigments to put into the concrete mix. I researched some of the chemicals. One company called Rockwood pigments has the info on their website:

http://www.rpigments.com/tech

This website includes MSDS forms. I would like to make purple using blue and red. The red pigment use iron oxide. Cobalt blue includes aluminum oxide and cobalt oxide that have been "chemically reacted at high temperatures" to make the pigment crystals. If there are some harmful chemicals in this mix, would such come out after months of curing in water? Perhaps I should post this on the chemistry forum as well.
 
I wouldn't use concrete pigments. Even though you have found the MSDS sheets, do you really want to put unknown quantities of iron oxide, aluminum oxide, and cobalt oxide in your tank? When you get, at best, that algae bloom or, at worst, unable to keep things alive, do you want to wonder if it was the dye you used? I have read that RIT dye would be acceptable but I didn't use even that. Get your Mg up to an acceptable level and coralline algae will cover it all in no time.

Good luck.
 
tatuaje08 said:
Has anyone made a back wall? I want to do that for my 34g Solana but don't know how thick I should go. Is there a way to reinforce it? Just don't want it to break.
Click to expand...

Yes on a 29 gallon mantis tank and a floating floor on a 5.5 gallon zoa tank.

I used eggcrate and made it wider than the tank length.

After it dried, I used a tile saw to cut it to fit. If you wanted, you can take pvc pipe and make blenny burrows or go really small so you can attach frag plugs to it without having to permanently attach it.
 
CyclistMT said:
I wouldn't use concrete pigments. Even though you have found the MSDS sheets, do you really want to put unknown quantities of iron oxide, aluminum oxide, and cobalt oxide in your tank? When you get, at best, that algae bloom or, at worst, unable to keep things alive, do you want to wonder if it was the dye you used? I have read that RIT dye would be acceptable but I didn't use even that. Get your Mg up to an acceptable level and coralline algae will cover it all in no time.

Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much! The natural way is best. The Realreef company uses some sort of "nontoxic" paint. I saw some at an LFS that was only coated on the exterior. I am sure a epoxy type paint would hold up and be safe. I am concerned about latex and acrylic paints.
 
LouisianaReefer said:
Thanks so much! The natural way is best. The Realreef company uses some sort of "nontoxic" paint. I saw some at an LFS that was only coated on the exterior. I am sure a epoxy type paint would hold up and be safe. I am concerned about latex and acrylic paints.
Click to expand...

You're welcome. I too would be concerned about latex and acrylic paints. I meant to tell you that is some great looking rock! I couldn't "think" in 3d enough to create shapes like that when molding so I had to piece all of mine together to get my final structures. Still not as nice as what you have going on there. Fantastic job!


tatuaje08 said:
Has anyone made a back wall? I want to do that for my 34g Solana but don't know how thick I should go. Is there a way to reinforce it? Just don't want it to break.
Click to expand...

I did but on a bit bigger scale than you will be. As KafudaFish said egg grate is what you will likely want to use as a base. Because of the size I was dealing with I had to do it all in tank. Rock was attached to the egg grate with zip ties and then pond foam was used to fill in the gaps and dremeled down to blend with the rock.











Finished aquascape. All DIY rock and pond foam.


 
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