Live Rocks DIY...any questions...

Trull · May 11, 2008

Hello.... For my next 50 Gal, I think make a portion of my LR.
For them, I thought use of portland cement, sand aragonite and big salt.
What do you think?
I thought putting salt because I think when currage in freshwater, salt will dissolve in the rockand this rock is more porous. What do you think?
Do you have any methods to increase the porosity of stones?
I take all your advice.
Thank you.

Trull · May 15, 2008

nothing...lol

Azurel · May 15, 2008

I have heard that before and is a good idea trull.....Just make sure that you cure it in FW long enough toget the salt inside the rock to disolve.....Should work I can't think of another way to do it......Might want to use super course sea salt for that as well.,....

Trull · May 15, 2008

Hey, thank you for the super quick response ... lol ...
I thought put the rock in fresh water for 2 months changing the water twice a weeks ...
thank you very much

Trull · May 24, 2008

Hello everyone ...
I think to use this portland cement, it's Type 1...Is it good?

I do a first test of sculture LR with cement of mason...it's very not terrible...lol

dfurbee · Jun 6, 2008

Trull, if you go to GARG.org they make all of their rock, and have instruction on how to do so.

LorenK · Jun 6, 2008

The GARF recipe on their site was not that great or maybe had not been updated. If it's the one I'm thinking about, they list acrylic shavings which I think they no longer use.. There is a huge thread on RC (it split 4 times) that has the trials and tribulations of several people, culminating in a standard recipe.

Salt is good for the reason you posted...it makes it porous (sp?). Some folks have used various types of macoroni. Some use crushed oyster shell for the buffering. I'm not sure Sand is needed and adds unecessary cost.

To get nice texture, try using a box filed with salt to shape. Also some folks use latex gloves blown up to create caves.

I have the ingredients in my garage but never followed through. I recently saw some DIY rocks attached to magnets (to put on the back wall) that have me thinking again. At least for some cheap frag plugs.

impur · Jun 10, 2008

I made some of my own rock. The biggest problem is curing it. The pH takes a long time to come down.

IMO sand is definately helpful. It will help with strength and give the rock a little more realistic look. I used crushed oyster shells, sand, white cement and salt.

I used a plastic bag to make a cave on top of this piece.

And i did not use salt in this piece

I've been soaking these pieces for about 6 months and they still drive the pH off the charts.