Painting Liverock

[Rob.B.]

Now Caribsea Liferock seems to have some of their reef grade substrate fused into the paint.

I plan on imitating this by painting a light coat of super glue in areas and applying the reef grade substrate.

The could get me closer to the finished looks I’m trying to achieve.

And forgot he before...

 

[Mjrdude1]

I think that turned out great! Nice job!

 

[Rob.B.]

I think that turned out great! Nice job!

Thank You, I lasted about 6 months, so I wont be doing that again...

But you never know unless you try...

 

[Bape47]

So what paint can i use for reefsafe?

I have this rock i want to paint it plz help

 

[Rob.B.]

You can use acrylic paint, if you use spray paint anything harmful evaporates just make sure is a spray paint for plastic or wood. No matter what you use it will start to come off after about 3 months and look like garbage. If you have tangs or blennies, crabs, snails anything that eats algae they will wear away the paint. I would advise against painting... People told me not to do it and I should have listened...

 

[Bape47]

So i shouldnt paint?

 

[Rob.B.]

So i shouldnt paint?

Honestly I wouldn't unless you can do an epoxy coating like some companies do with live rock or decorations. But then your sealing the rock and loosing any benefits it has.

 

[Bape47]

Alright ty though ill keep it white

 

[TDEcoral]

Why not try cement coloring? Says it's chemically inert and safe.

PLUM Deep Purple - Concrete Colorant, Cement & Mortar Color | Conspec

CMC concrete colors are integral cement colors used for coloring concrete, mortar and stucco, contains synthetic iron oxides with some... Learn More.

conspecmaterials.com

 

[Shoomie]

Hey guys, so I think the best idea would be purple pvc primer. I do not have any experience doing this but I researched it all day yesterday and I think I am going to be doing purple pvc primer to cover 20 lbs of stax rocks for my aquascape in a about a month or so. Here are some youtube videos that may be helpful:

Part #1

Part#2

Part#3

Part#4

Hey,
I came across this thread, and was thinking about this today. How did it work out/would you recommend? Thanks

 

[reefwiser]

The problem with painting is that the bacteria needs to be in the rock. Not on the outside of the rock. That’s what people today totally miss by using dry rock. Rock from the ocean has a whole Micro biome
In the rock

 

[Rob.B.]

Hey,
I came across this thread, and was thinking about this today. How did it work out/would you recommend? Thanks

I will leave it at this, it was a BAD IDEA...

Most of it comes off with Tangs, Algea Blennies or Snails...

 

[Rob.B.]

The problem with painting is that the bacteria needs to be in the rock. Not on the outside of the rock. That’s what people today totally miss by using dry rock. Rock from the ocean has a whole Micro biome
In the rock

I will not argue on this one, painting the rock is just a bad idea. And using the man made stuff is not much of a better.

 

[Harold999]

The problem with painting is that the bacteria needs to be in the rock. Not on the outside of the rock. That’s what people today totally miss by using dry rock. Rock from the ocean has a whole Micro biome
In the rock

A mythe. Bacteria needs to be in contact with the waterflow to do their job. There is (hardly) any flow inside the micropores of a rock. 99.99% of the water flows around the surface of a rock, not through it.
Those fancy new filter bricks that people put in their sump are hardly doing anything, because the water doesn't flow through it.

 

[Harold999]

I will leave it at this, it was a BAD IDEA...

Most of it comes off with Tangs, Algea Blennies or Snails...

The question is, what paintproducts do the ones like Caribsea and Real Reefrock use on their stones, because that seems pretty durable.
The only thing i can think of to really make a paint durable is to dip the stone in epoxy after painting. But when i closely examine a Caribsea rock they haven't done that. It looks like just a latex- or acrylic paint, nothing over it.

 

[Rob.B.]

The question is, what paintproducts do the ones like Caribsea and Real Reefrock use on their stones, because that seems pretty durable.
The only thing i can think of to really make a paint durable is to dip the stone in epoxy after painting. But when i closely examine a Caribsea rock they haven't done that. It looks like just a latex- or acrylic paint, nothing over it.

I don’t know I would not use paint period.. I have seen a few posts on FB where people have used the Pink Marco Cement, mixed it wet and brushed it onto the rocks.. Do yourself a favor and pass on the paint...

 

[Harold999]

I don’t know I would not use paint period.. I have seen a few posts on FB where people have used the Pink Marco Cement, mixed it wet and brushed it onto the rocks.. Do yourself a favor and pass on the paint...

Also an idea, there is cement dye powder in all colors, so you can create different kind of purples.

 

[laverda]

A mythe. Bacteria needs to be in contact with the waterflow to do their job. There is (hardly) any flow inside the micropores of a rock. 99.99% of the water flows around the surface of a rock, not through it.
Those fancy new filter bricks that people put in their sump are hardly doing anything, because the water doesn't flow through it.

Your two paragraphs totally contradict each other. It really depends on what your expecting of your rock and /or ceramic media block. Nitrate reduction requires low flow to produce the low oxygen levels required to brake it down. I feel most have to much flow through their sumps for a ceramic block to work optimally.

 

[Casket_Case]

Paint – Addictive Reef Keeping

addictivereefkeeping.com

 

[Harold999]

Your two paragraphs totally contradict each other. It really depends on what your expecting of your rock and /or ceramic media block. Nitrate reduction requires low flow to produce the low oxygen levels required to brake it down. I feel most have to much flow through their sumps for a ceramic block to work optimally.

No it doesn't contradict imo. Even with minimal flow in the sump the blocks don't work well because water always seeks the path of less resistance (=around the block), unless you force it to go through the block, which is only possible if the block is the exact same size as the compartment it's in.

The amount of water in a tank that goes into the micropores of your liferock and manages to come out again is so low it hardly benefits anything.