Large Live Rock Pieces
- Thread starter smpross
- Start date
daves-reef
Non-member
One advantage to making your own rock is the ability to scalp the rock work the way you want. You can create some really interesting shapes and attach pieces together after they are molded. I set up a 120 at my last house with the majority of the rock work being DIY. It was a fun part of the project.
Unfortunately I am not sure the cost is that much cheaper nowadays. Since Southdown – Tropical play sand is no longer available. One of the major ingredients is aragonite sand. Aragonite sand is also required to make the forms. I must have used about 10 bags of southdown when I made my rocks. That’s not bad at less than 5 dollars a bag . But if you have to buy 10 bags at 30 – 40 dollars a bag it gets expensive. Then you add the cost of other ingredients.
The other disadvantage that you might not be aware of is the lengthy time it takes to cure DIY cement rock. Cement rock needs to be cured in fresh water until the cement no longer leaches out (Calcium Chloride?) or whatever it is that raises the PH of water. When fist placed in water it will raise the PH really high like 10 – 12. That will kill just about anything. It took about 4 months for my rock to cure outside in a kiddy pool. After that you still have to cure it in salt water just like any other live or dry rock.
It takes a lot of patience. This time around I am going to use Marco rock myself. Already ordered some Marco rock for the 120 tech . You can attach pieces of Marco rock and create some larger pieces also. If your still interested in DIY rock here a link to the recipe I used. Thiers links to other info and pictures.
http://home.comcast.net/~daves-reef/diy_liverock.htm
If you have any questions regarding DIY rock I be glad to help out.
Dave
Unfortunately I am not sure the cost is that much cheaper nowadays. Since Southdown – Tropical play sand is no longer available. One of the major ingredients is aragonite sand. Aragonite sand is also required to make the forms. I must have used about 10 bags of southdown when I made my rocks. That’s not bad at less than 5 dollars a bag . But if you have to buy 10 bags at 30 – 40 dollars a bag it gets expensive. Then you add the cost of other ingredients.
The other disadvantage that you might not be aware of is the lengthy time it takes to cure DIY cement rock. Cement rock needs to be cured in fresh water until the cement no longer leaches out (Calcium Chloride?) or whatever it is that raises the PH of water. When fist placed in water it will raise the PH really high like 10 – 12. That will kill just about anything. It took about 4 months for my rock to cure outside in a kiddy pool. After that you still have to cure it in salt water just like any other live or dry rock.
It takes a lot of patience. This time around I am going to use Marco rock myself. Already ordered some Marco rock for the 120 tech . You can attach pieces of Marco rock and create some larger pieces also. If your still interested in DIY rock here a link to the recipe I used. Thiers links to other info and pictures.
http://home.comcast.net/~daves-reef/diy_liverock.htm
If you have any questions regarding DIY rock I be glad to help out.
Dave
marco rocks
marco rocks goes above and beyond - great guy to work with!
marcorocks.com
marco rocks goes above and beyond - great guy to work with!
marcorocks.com
Sherri
Non-member
here's another link to creating rock ....
http://web.mac.com/slaman/Aquariums/2001_Monolith_for_Sherri.html
http://web.mac.com/slaman/Aquariums/2001_Monolith_for_Sherri.html
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