Concrete to bond rock?

[justinl]

IMO it would be perfectly fine to use relatively small amounts of portland cement. amount of cement relative to volume of water will determine how rapidly the cement will change the Ph, so it has to be considered on a case-by-case basis. You would just have to keep a closer eye on Ph for about a month than most people do on their tanks; I don't think it would be too hard to buffer or perform water changes to combat it.

[fishytime]

But then we have read about some of the DIY rock, where the recipe was off a bit and it wiped out peeps tanks....

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I have done this and IMO if you have the time to let the concrete cure and leach its high PH in RO water, its much better than PVC structures or zip ties. It ends up looking the most natural. Once the concrete grows over with coraline and whatnot, the rocks look like one big piece.

I think I used portland cement. Whatever it was, nothing fancy, cheap and never had problems. I had that tank up 3 years.

[Delphinus]

How long did you let it cure for Justin?

IMO the time for me to figure this out is now, when I have a stockpile of rock in a rubbermaid. It's wet but not otherwise hugely live as it's been sitting for a while. So I can fill my tank and let it cure in place before cycling but I wonder if I'd have to dump a bottle of bacteria in to reseed the rock and let it re-cycle before I transfer any livestock.

I'll try looking for the Thorite though too in the meantime.

[xtreme]

If you do track down some Thorite let me know, I am interested in some as well.

[soapy]

Originally Posted by xtreme

If you do track down some Thorite let me know, I am interested in some as well.

Me too.

[Parker]

If the pieces are small enough I've heard of people curing the cement by throwing it in the toilet tank, several easy water changes a day.

Wouldn't work for you as I'm sure your pieces would be much to large but for people will small tanks it might work out alright.