DIY Live Rock

[TonyEnr]

Switching my 220 to reef....anyone have any experience with making their own live rock?
-did it mess up the water chemistry?
-did it hurt fish/corals?

 

[mr_X]

I have never made my own but I know others who have. You will need to cure it under water for a month or so, or it will spike your PH. Constantly changing the water. Someone that did it for a small tank put it in the toilet tank for a month...a water change with every flush.
The portland takes that long to cure.
For a tank your size, I might purchase the dry rock from one of Bulk Reef Supply, Marco Rocks...etc.

 

[DanS180]

Surprise finding you on here man lol I was like wait a min, I just talked to Tony yesterday about his 220 reef lol

 

[TonyEnr]

I have never made my own but I know others who have. You will need to cure it under water for a month or so, or it will spike your PH. Constantly changing the water. Someone that did it for a small tank put it in the toilet tank for a month...a water change with every flush.
The portland takes that long to cure.
For a tank your size, I might purchase the dry rock from one of Bulk Reef Supply, Marco Rocks...etc.

Yeah that's what I've heard...i think it will take forever....I'm probably just gonna end up buying some bulk dry rock, like you said. Thanks for those sites man! I'm checking them out now. Probably going to go with Marco rocks deal on the 50lb box for 109.99 free shipping. I got my lights coming in next week. Can't wait lol

 

[mr_X]

Curing rock in the toilet TANK, I said. Not the bowl!

 

[oyf709]

yes I made my own LR, 150 lbs of them by using oyster shells, it is a long process that waste a lot of time and water. Making them is easy, but cermet are above 12 PH so you can to keep running freshwater or does vinegar to lower the PH of them. You can keep a hose in the bucket and keep running water out or if you have any creek

 

[Wy Renegade]

GARF also used to make man-made LR for sell, but I don't know if they are still around or not.

Hmmmm. . . maybe

GARF.ORG - The reef aquarium place

 

[Jake337]

I also made my own diy live rock. Cured it in water for about 1 month and then 2 weeks in saltwater. 3 months after being soaked in my display tank its all covered in coralline and looks exactly like lr. Best thing about making your own rock is for one it's cheap (only spent about 15 dollars and already made close to 40 lbs with a lot more ingredients left), and two you can make any shape/rockscape you'd like.

 

[JJ-MIK]

That sounds like a great idea.. Can you send me a supply list or website to go to? I'm very interested!

 

[Jake337]

That sounds like a great idea.. Can you send me a supply list or website to go to? I'm very interested!

I only used 2 things to make it. Made it very porous and secure.
1) Portland Cement (grey or white doesn't rly matter)
2) Water Softer Salt (small crystal sized)
3) Play Sand (50lbs should be enough)

Got both of these at Home depot. What I did was used a drinking cup for measurements. There isn't really a perfect way of making it, so what I did was scooped about 3-4 full cups of Portland cement and about 6 cups of salt. It all depends on how much rock you want to make. Next I mixed these two together with a small shovel. Once it's all dispersed, you add small quantities of water at a time. Add 1/3 of of volume of the cup into the mixture and then mix it. Water is the main thing you need to concentrate on because too much of it and your whole mixture is ruined. You want to add enough water that the cement/salt is only damp. If it's all gooey, you'll have ugly rocks at the end. When I was done mixing the water with the salt/cement I made little shapes in a big bucket containing the sand. Then I laid out the cement mixture into the shapes slowly. Thaw about it. Wait 24 hrs and then start curing it.

 

[Jake337]

When I first placed them into my tank..







And now, about 4 months later?

 

[Twoie]

Following! I'm interested in this also!

 

[JJ-MIK]

Can you form it to odd shapes. Or is round pieces all you can do?

 

[Jake337]

Can you form it to odd shapes. Or is round pieces all you can do?

Any shapes. It depends on how you rearrange the sand. I made a cave looking piece, and a arch looking rock.

 

[Saratj1]

I've heard concrete can really increase the ph of your tank and leech stuff for a while, I've read somewhere about someone curing their rock for 3 months and changing the water every day, and still the water goes in with a ph of 7 comes out with a ph of 10.

 

[Jake337]

I've heard concrete can really increase the ph of your tank and leech stuff for a while, I've read somewhere about someone curing their rock for 3 months and changing the water every day, and still the water goes in with a ph of 7 comes out with a ph of 10.

I've read a lot of reviews on the internet and saw a lot of rock tutorials on YouTube. From my experience, it didn't happen to me neither the people I saw on YouTube.