DIY Live Rock

[thincat]

I would take any animals out if You can and just do PWC's on the tank until the ph stablizes. How much rock you got in there? You might want to take out 1/2 to give it more volume of water so that lime can leach out
PS: Patiences Grasshopper, Patiences.....

[divedeep1689]

lol ah why a grasshopper why lol and i cant afford to do water changes in those tanks i can barley afford the salt for my 55 gal at the moment i have limited water changes in it about twice a month is all i can do in there

[thincat]

You must be very young. Grasshopper was what David Carradine was called in the TV series "Kung Fu"(he was just in the movie "Kill Bill" andcommitted suicide a few weeks ago. In that case (water changes) take them out and put them back in the container as just change with freshwater as before and monitor PH.

[divedeep1689]

alrighty will do i dont think it will hurt to much the bacteria that was there was not much yet but i could smell it some not as much as a normal piece of rock would so brb......................................ok they are in the rubbermaid with air and water i will keep my other two tanks going till they are ready to be seeded or i may just add them straight to tank when ready

[divedeep1689]

i am thinking once i get it in the tank about the arch i want it covered in one type of coral all over i am thinking a blue or red mushroom or some zoanthus maybe orange and green the watermellon color or something simmilar wat do you think

[thincat]

Your imagination is the limit. My Father would say,"if someone says Why did you do that, you would answer...That's the way I wanted it"

[divedeep1689]

alrighty i may have more than one then

[thincat]

Yes, your imagination is the limit. If you need different shapes, now is the time to make the rock.

[divedeep1689]

i already have the rock i am just planing the coral to go on parts of it lol i want something that will grow fast and cover the arch

[MarkhamDave]

Are you using anything to hold them together?

[divedeep1689]

well i was going to use some pipe to hold them together but i am going to wait till they are ready to go into my display tank before i figure out how to hold them together the only one that really will need it will be my arch but i am sure i will find a way i may try some marine land sea putty to hold it to the others

[InfernoST]

This all seems really cool but isn't to much iron bad for the tank?

[divedeep1689]

well i have not even thought about iron in the cement. how much is in it? were did you get the information? but i now the rocks are safe for fish i dont know about corals yet tho but i did have the rocks in a tub with the damsels and they lived the ph was still to high tho so its setting again. i kinda want to hear wat thincat says about iron he is good with the chemicals and stuff in the cement.

[InfernoST]

Originally Posted by divedeep1689

well i have not even thought about iron in the cement. how much is in it? were did you get the information? but i now the rocks are safe for fish i dont know about corals yet tho but i did have the rocks in a tub with the damsels and they lived the ph was still to high tho so its setting again. i kinda want to hear wat thincat says about iron he is good with the chemicals and stuff in the cement.

Iron ore is contained in all types of portland cement and mortar. I researched it after the pointing job on my mother in-laws house developed rust marks. I'll see if I can find the website again. The other items in cement would make your head spin like immense amounts of epoxy.

[InfernoST]

I googled it real quick and copied the it over, your not going to like it. I'll continue to search for the one i read a couple of years ago.

*"Cement manufacturing is the basic processing of selected and prepared mineral raw materials to produce the synthetic mineral mixture (clinker) that can be ground to a powder having the specific chemical composition and physical properties of cement." Cement manufacture, like many other manufacturing processes, begins at the mine, where the raw materials like limestone, silica, aluminates, feric minerals and others are obtained. Some typical materials used for calcium carbonate in cement manufacturing are limestone, chalks, marbles, marls, and oyster shell. Some typical materials used for alumina in the cement manufacturing are shale, clay, slags, fly ash, bauxite, alumina process waste, and granite. Some typical materials used for silica in cement manufacturing are sand, clay, claystone, shale, slag, and fly ash. Some typical materials used for iron in cement manufacturing are iron ores, blast furnace flue dusts, pyrite clinker, mill scale, and fly ash.

[divedeep1689]

if i am not mistaken most of those are what your leaching out of the rock when you hold it in freshwater for two months i know thincat has used portland like me and he has a piece in his tank already covered in Coraline algae i dont think it has effected his tank yet lots of people have started making live rock including a garf and they sell theres and they use portland

[InfernoST]

Originally Posted by divedeep1689

if i am not mistaken most of those are what your leaching out of the rock when you hold it in freshwater for two months i know thincat has used portland like me and he has a piece in his tank already covered in Coraline algae i dont think it has effected his tank yet lots of people have started making live rock including a garf and they sell theres and they use portland

You are leaching some things out of the cement but not everything like the iron ore, the list above are common ingredients found in all cement the other proprietary/secret ingredients vary from company to company which could be a problem. It just didn't make sense to put something in the tank with a high metals content this why I asked.

[divedeep1689]

yea it is kinda wierd but portland type 1 or 2 is wat everyone uses so i guess its safe

[thincat]

Hi, I saw this post about a 1/2 hour ago and wanted to do somemore homework on it before I answered it.
Portland Cement is reef safe when it is allowed to cure out. This is not to say that it would leach out some materials that some would consider unsafe. If you remember a few weeks ago there was a discussion about copper in "Spectrum marine formula" fish food.
It all comes down to how much is considered safe. Water is safe, yet people do drown in it. IMO, portland cement is reef safe when cured. So by the time the rocks PH is down to a safe level the cement has long been cured.


Is Portland cement safe in a Reef Aquarium?


1) http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/t_miller_052498.html
2) http://www.garf.org/news9p2.shtml
3)http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/6279/RaiseCementRock.html
4) http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=304845
5) http://www.fishforums.net/lofiversion/index.php?t286955.html
6)

[divedeep1689]

thank you thin cat