diy rock
 

ne 1 made these before i have a batch ready but i dont know if they are reef safe i used steralized play sand rather then aragonite should they be ok or should i just make them with aragonite?

Scott, the rumor is that the silicates in playsand cause diatom blooms. Whether or not this is try or not is for you to research and decide.

If you do chose to use your home made rock, make sure you cure it for a long time in salt water.
You will need some real live rock to seed this home made stuff.

ne 1 have aragonite for sale in calgary?
or no where i can get some for cheap

I read somewhere that you can also use crushed oyster shells. From what I hear, it's pretty cheap, (wall, at least here in the lower mainland, it is... but, it should be in Alberta as well). Hope that helps.

Robert

oyster shells
 

you can get oyster shells from a animal feed store. they feed chickens with it or something weird like that.
if you use oyster shells, the rocks come out really light and porous.
if you really want to use aragonite, i would use it as the mould so the outside of the rock is covered with aragonite while the inside is oyster shells. or you can also use oyster shells for the mould as well.

yah i have heard of using crushed shells although i have heard

that there is a lot of detrius that builds up in them
takes a while to properly cure
dont act as a buffer for ph and calcium

correct me if im wrong

thanks

Me and a buddy made some rock and we used a mixture of aragonite sand, crushed oyster shells and crushed coral. The crushed oyster shells are pretty much mostly calcium if I recall correctly and so is the rest of it. The rock looks really nice but isn't done curing yet. I expect it will take 4 - 6 months to be fully cured. When the rock is fully cured the PH should be fine as well.

IMO if you make rock out of just sand and cement it will not be near porous enough to really make good rock. The more porous the better for the bacteria to live, as well as the pods and other critters.

sorry forgot to say that i added rock salt to the mix to make it poris

the playsand works fine, silicates (sand will not dissolve in water) as for crushed oyster shells be cautious, they are very high in phosphates and these can be released in our environments.

Steve

The rock I made was cured in about 6 weeks, I put the rock in the back of the toilet and every time you flush you get clean water, it's a great easy out of the way system for smaller bits of rock.

Doug

I made all teh rock in my tank using Oyster Shell and #10 cement. I left them out side in a kidy pool for a few month. I think I made them in Feb. and placed them in the tank in June. Make sure to change the water at less weekly. I also gave the rocks a 50/50 vinegar and water mix twice during teh process. Man does it fizz the first time. after the fresh water I just placed it in a bare tank, with sand and a few small LR pieces. I had a high PH for three days or so, then it was normal. This has been two years now and the rock looks good in the 33g and covered with coraline.

here are a few pics when I changed out the playsand for crush coral over one year ago.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1446/10001084hc.jpg

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/4853/10001149iu.jpg

I have DIY'd rock myself and.. after I was all done I prefered liverock. :lol:

I found the crushed coral and aragonite looked close to LR just without any colour.

OMG, that is probably the funniest, but most brilliant, thing I have heard in a while! :lol:

Great idea. :D

haha i've heard of doing that as well! It also saves you a little on the water bill as you're actually flushing less water!

Hi,

I have made my own reef base rock before (argonite and portland cement). But I stop making them once I found out about Caribsea's Reef rocks. They are pre-crush blocks of argonite and its about $1.25 a pound from J&L. I have used them for about 4 years in my tank and they look just as cool as any live rock that I have from Fiji. They take about 6 to 12 months to fully seed and cover with coraline.

- Victor.

With my experience I used both aragonite and crushed oyster shells. I found with only the oyster shells the cement wouldn't stick to very well and the final product was very brittle. I added some aragonite with the oyster shells and it made a great product. Add a little rock salt and you'll have lots of caverns.

I did have a few brittle pieces on my second bactch with just Oyster Shell. I think the trick was a little more cement and wetter made it work better. Also remember that the longer it is most the stronger it will set. I took them right out of the mold and placed them in a kiddy pool for month. THey are very poress and very strong.