I love that rock backscape..... thats a possibility for next tank for sure.
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So ley me get this straight you used krylon spray paint on your rocks and have had no side effects in your tank???
I'm surprised the krylon doesn't get pulled off by snails. I'd rather let it encrust with coraline naturally even if the krylon is bulletproof. But I have multiple colors of coralline on my rocks, that might be why
The Cure
This is a crucial, but mostly mis-followed step in the creation of our man-made rocks. I say this because this is the step where patience is most necessitated but often overlooked. The good news? It's a fairly simple step to follow.. up to this point, you've already done the hard part!
What do I mean... "Cure"? Cure is a term, meaning the rocks are undergoing chemical reactions, and the one we're most concerned about is hydrolysis, as mentioned earlier.
When cement workers do their thing, they follow very similar steps, in fact we use the very same things they employ... it all came from them. After cement workers cast their piece, you'll sometimes notice that there is a damp cloth covering it. You can add too little and too much water, but a damp cloth seems to do just about right for water dispersion. But since we're making rocks.. transportable pieces, we can take it a step further with little difficulty.
What the rocks would love is to be in a hot and humid environment. By adding heat and humidity you help out the hydrolysis process, increasing the strength and in effect, shortening the Kure process. There are any number of ways to achieve this, but the common practice is to just leave the rocks in a plastic bag, spray some water in it, close it off, and leave under the sun. In winter, you can do this by keeping the bag inside the house but by a window.
You really need to have patience and just leave the rocks in the cure process for the full 28 days. Every now and then, remember to re-spray the inside of the bag, with water, to keep the humidity up.
That's it... tough isn't it? ; )
The back tank of a toilet is a good place to cure Portland cement.