125 - Took Forever But Here It is!

Eagle_Steve · Jul 26, 2022

tbrown3589 said:
Should I video the hair on my chest growing too or just drinking the skimmate?

ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!!!!!!!

Justdrew · Jul 26, 2022

tbrown3589 said:
True story: I couldn't smell gas when I had COVID.

100% true. The same thing happened to me. Took a long time to get that smell back. Some are still messed up and not the same as before.

tbrown · Jul 26, 2022

Projects with Sam said:
crack a raw egg into it for a little more protein.

tbrown · Jul 26, 2022

Justdrew said:
100% true. The same thing happened to me. Took a long time to get that smell back. Some are still messed up and not the same as before.

Mine all recovered after about 8 months. I think.

rmorris_14 · Jul 26, 2022

Justdrew said:
100% true. The same thing happened to me. Took a long time to get that smell back. Some are still messed up and not the same as before.

My husband said his favorite thing about not being able to smell was when he went into service people with disgusting houses. (Think animal feces everywhere) He was actually a little disappointed when it came back for that reason.

Mschmidt · Jul 27, 2022

Will you look at that, I've caught up on my reading.

tbrown · Jul 27, 2022

So more pictures less words from now on?

Mschmidt · Jul 27, 2022

Between yours, eagle, mibu, sam, lost, Jedi, stang, who else am I trying to catch up on?

Although I am more comfortable with picture books.

tbrown · Jul 27, 2022

So I'm thinking about making some rock for the tank. A couple of shelves and some regular rocks.

These are the main ones I'm considering. I might make a PVC pipe covered to replace the piece you can see.

Stang67 · Jul 27, 2022

Mschmidt · Jul 27, 2022

Rock can be made!? Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend.

Eagle_Steve · Jul 27, 2022

Mschmidt said:
Rock can be made!? Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend.

Yup.

How much time do you have from making it to using it?

I ask as there are a few tricks to make it more porous and thats some time to cure. You also have to account for curing to eliminate the ph spike of the "rock" curing. Low PH mortar and cement is getting very hard to find.

Mschmidt · Jul 27, 2022

Eagle_Steve said:
Yup.

How much time do you have from making it to using it?

I ask as there are a few tricks to make it more porous and thats some time to cure. You also have to account for curing to eliminate the ph spike of the "rock" curing. Low PH mortar and cement is getting very hard to find.

Really no urgent need. But a shelf and some frag racks would be great. Also would help with a rescape I want in the 15. Is it possible to safely inset magnets?

Eagle_Steve · Jul 27, 2022

Mschmidt said:
Really no urgent need. But a shelf and some frag racks would be great. Also would help with a rescape I want in the 15. Is it possible to safely inset magnets?

In order to make the rock more porous, you will add some water softener "rock salt" to the mix. This takes a few days to dissolve, but the rock will need to soak after drying, as the PH will be very high. You just change the water out daily with tap water. Do not worry about chlorine at this point. After the first week of soaking in tap, measrue the PH. If it is around 8, then it is cured. (this really only applies to very thing pieces). More than likely it will still be around 10-11. Just change water daily and test every week until the PH comes down to around 8.

I have had larger diy rocks take 6 months to get down to 8 ph lol. So do not fret if it takes a while. I did use mortar the cured at 14, so that was part of the problem lol.

In addition to making the rock porous using "rock salt", you can take angle hair and speghetti noodles, soak them in water to get them somewhat soft (not hot water). You want them to just be able to bend.

From there, you just make mold in sand and slowly add the diy rock mix and put random arrangements of noodles here and there as you slowly build up material to make the rock.

While curing, the noodles will dissolve and you will be left with tones of pores that go all the way through the rock.

Mschmidt · Jul 27, 2022

Eagle_Steve said:
In order to make the rock more porous, you will add some water softener "rock salt" to the mix. This takes a few days to dissolve, but the rock will need to soak after drying, as the PH will be very high. You just change the water out daily with tap water. Do not worry about chlorine at this point. After the first week of soaking in tap, measrue the PH. If it is around 8, then it is cured. (this really only applies to very thing pieces). More than likely it will still be around 10-11. Just change water daily and test every week until the PH comes down to around 8.

I have had larger diy rocks take 6 months to get down to 8 ph lol. So do not fret if it takes a while. I did use mortar the cured at 14, so that was part of the problem lol.

In addition to making the rock porous using "rock salt", you can take angle hair and speghetti noodles, soak them in water to get them somewhat soft (not hot water). You want them to just be able to bend.

From there, you just make mold in sand and slowly add the diy rock mix and put random arrangements of noodles here and there as you slowly build up material to make the rock.

While curing, the noodles will dissolve and you will be left with tones of pores that go all the way through the rock.

Desolve the salt in water then mix, or does the salt mix in with everything else?

Eagle_Steve · Jul 27, 2022

Mschmidt said:
Desolve the salt in water then mix, or does the salt mix in with everything else?

Mix the mortar/concrete or whatever your medium is up first. Then mix the salt in. Do not mix heavy as you do not the salt to dissolve too fast. Then make your rocks. Let them cure out of water for 2-3 days. Then place in water to aid in reduction of PH from the final curing process.

Projects with Sam · Jul 27, 2022

there is a great thread in the DIY section.

rmorris_14 · Jul 27, 2022

Projects with Sam said:
there is a great thread in the DIY section.

Have you ever watch "Big City Greens"... its a kid show... there was an episode on this morning about DIY and "self-reliance and it had me rolling

and also thinking of some of the DIY'ers on here.

Projects with Sam · Jul 27, 2022

rmorris_14 said:
Have you ever watch "Big City Greens"... its a kid show... there was an episode on this morning about DIY and "self-reliance and it had me rolling and also thinking of some of the DIY'ers on here.

I haven't but it sounds neat. is it about casabas?