home made rock

[nicksgirl]

I enjoy sculpting rock out of concrete and I understand these can be used in my aquarium once the lime leaching out of the cement is sufficiently reduced. Bathing the rock for 6 to 8 weeks is impractical for me so I am thinking about using a concrete sealer.

Has anyone ever tried this? And if so, can you recommend a product?

Thanks!

[BillyZ]

Sorry I don't have a sealer to recommend, but I would be as concerned about the sealer being harmful as I would be about the lime in the cement. Just be sure to consider that when choosing.

Is there a particular reason curing the cement isn't feasible for you? Perhaps we could help with that if we can't find a sealer for you.

[nicksgirl]

I suppose I could use my spare bathroom to cure the rock - but I'd rather have the whole operation outside and that's not an option for me becuase I live in a condo. Maybe everybody does this in the spare bathroom - I don't know... I'm probably just being impatient.

As for the sealer - I 've seen several products on the internet designed for the purpose of stopping the lime leaching from cement used to build outdoor fish ponds.

[BillyZ]

Got a spare closet? You could pick up a rubbermaid garbage can, stick it in the closet with the rock and use buckets to fill it with water. Personaly, even if I used a sealer I think I would still want to cure the rocks in some water for a while to be sure there wasn't anything lingering or spots missed. JMO

[roka64]

There is actually a product that allows you to create your own rock. It it something like aragmix, or something like that. Some one just mentioned this a few weeks ago. Let me see if I can find it.

+++EDIT+++
dscount did it in this Thread
EJS4 talks about it Here

Do a search on aragocrete either on this site or google, you should find lots of stuff.