DIY Rock Tutorial/Info Thread (Rocks, walls, floors, etc.)

[prsnlty]

In the next few days I'm about to start doing a couple of DIY Rock projects. The main reason is because my tank crashed and lost all my acropora very recently. That gives me an excuse for re- aquascaping. I've been wanting to do this for a while so it might as well be now. The main reason is because I put too much Rock in the tank to start with so once the corals grew out it left very little swim room for my tangs. Plus I want to try and experiment for an old-world bridge ;)

 

[Dizzirn95]

I see you quoted my post but no comment from you. Was this in error?

Yes it was in error sorry

 

[Grimreaperz]

In the next few days I'm about to start doing a couple of DIY Rock projects. The main reason is because my tank crashed and lost all my acropora very recently. That gives me an excuse for re- aquascaping. I've been wanting to do this for a while so it might as well be now. The main reason is because I put too much Rock in the tank to start with so once the corals grew out it left very little swim room for my tangs. Plus I want to try and experiment for an old-world bridge ;)

Looking forward to what you come up with!. And about the other comment I completely agree. I'm always on the side of caution in this hobby!

 

[prsnlty]

If I get time a little later I'll put the first part of the DIY Rock Bridge here. That part is about creating a form.

 

[Casey-Reef]

Great thread!

 

[SuperHaze57]

Very interesting and informative. I might have to have a stab at this in the future.
Thanks for this DIY

 

[H2Ocorals]

how cost effective is this. Seems like a lot of work and id rather just buy the rock lol!

 

[MarsRover]

how cost effective is this. Seems like a lot of work and id rather just buy the rock lol!

It was a heck of a lot cheaper and easier to do this with some cement and rock than just to try and go it with rock alone!!

 

[prsnlty]

Yes, plus you get the look you actually want ;)

 

[Joshua Snyder]

MarsRover thats a nice setup! I cant wait to try this soon!

 

[Crimsondrago]

Wow. I gotta try this . Making my own rocks to my liking would be awesome for this new tank I'm setting up

 

[Reef-junky]

Nice rock

 

[s2nhle]

Very beautiful aquascapes

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think I just found my guy to do my driveway!!

Very nice work, tips and creative ideas

 

[naoki]

Very nice thread, it helped me to make the first batch! Thank you.

I didn't know too much about curing of portland cement, but it appears that curing in the water gives fairly good result. So it appear that it is better to cure them immersed in the water. I wonder why it is recommended to cure in the plastic bag with occasional spraying.

In this paper, they tested air curing, saturated wet covering method (similar to the method by the original poster), water immersion curing, and others.
https://ac.els-cdn.com/S22126708140...t=1537936378_c9f5e08a16566f98f5bb3b28fcba1938

Wet covering and water immersion methods were both good in terms of compressive strength after 28 days. Indeed, water immersion seems to be slightly better.

In another study, http://www.ijastnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_4_April_2013/7.pdf , curing with wet burlap wrapping was slightly better than water immersion, but they achieve the similar strength.

So it seems that it is easier and quicker to cure them in water (you don't have to soak them too long after curing), but does it have a negative effect?

 

[Jason_J]

Here are some pictures of a 20L with a DIY rockwall and rocks I built back in 2010 or 11 and had for a couple of years. Sadly I had an auto topoff failure while traveling and lost the tank.

 

[s2nhle]

Very nice!

 

[Metasyntactic]

I might have missed this but can you safely use concrete that you've acid etched? I mean, assuming you adequately neutralize it and soak it.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Good Article but easier said then done mate~ I refuse to put any concrete in my tank, b/c it could kill everything in your system if you don't properly cure that Portland white cement the correct way... That's not a chance I AM willing to take... Hats off to ya if it all work outs... I am not trying to do any rippers on anyone that DIY's there live rock. Different strokes for different folks. I would never add it b/c it just does not look real to me no matter how porous you get it @MarsRover.. That's just my opinion since i have done many experiments w/ man-made rock and the insane amount of curing ya got to do with it.


Love to see a shot with some of this man-made rock in your tank @Electrobes

I have tried using Portland cement and my man made rock came out terrible and I have tried a few different times. Thank god I had around 50 pounds of some old school Fiji left over from a previous build. I am in the process of recurring it since you can find it anywhere on the market due to the Export restrictions that put on the Live rock in 2008.. No more Tonga, No more Fiji or my all time favorite rock of all times was Marshall Island live rock! A lot of people probably had never seen real Marshall Island live rock. If anyone has some of that rock it's like #gold

I will be going with a Minimalist type scape since I will be going with mainly an all SPS Dominate type tank for the new set up.
Ones, Synergy Reef Systems finishes up my custom CL-44 sump in a few weeks my Live rock will be ready to add to the SCA 150.

Here is a pix of my scape before I started the recurring process.

Ultra Premium Fiji Live rock.

 

[artreef]

;)