DIY Live Rock

[divedeep1689]

lol it dont get that cold

[cabezon]

great writeup and links. Here's a question: What about tossing the homemade stuff under a bridge for a few months? One of the benefits of living near salt water?

[divedeep1689]

sounds like a idea to me cabezon if your area is not very tropical tho it might not get the coraline on it like you might be thinking but it would def seed it...... The georgia atlanta aquarium did wat your talking about i belive they took thier rocks to figi and set them next to a reef for thier tanks...

[DeepThought]

Hi,

Earlier in the thread there was talk of making things lighter - it reminded me of the pantheon - Roman engineers needed the concrete to be light so they used pumice as aggregate leading to a very light yet strong dome almost 1900 + years old and still standing strong.

Nowadays they do the same job with a detergent and create a foam which is mixed with the concrete to make it very light and porous concrete.

While the latter is probably outside the scope of DIY the pumice might work.

A

[divedeep1689]

wat exactly is pumice sorry i have never heard of it.... i will be google it in a second but like always remember this is going in your tank not a ancient building it could have some effect on your water and aquatic life....well i did google it i see that some people use pumice volcano rock in thier tanks so i dont guess it would hurt anything to use but do your research first tho it sounds like i dont have to tell you that you sound like you already do that very well!! A+ on the history report!!!!

[DeepThought]

I'm no vulcanoligist (no nothing to do with Startrek ) but IIRC the pumice is formed at the start of the eruption when the molten lava is under pressure and the gasses and steam expand inside the liquid rock and if it cools quickly enough they get trapped giving it a sponge like structure.

Visualise what would happen if you were to shake a cola and open it - if you could freeze it at that moment you'd have a cola version of pumice.

Some is light enough to actually float

It's very easy to work and has good porosity.

A

[mfdrookie516]

the only problem i would envision with using pumice would be the same as using lava rock... not sure if pumice has the same chemical compound as lava rock, but i know that there is alot of iron that can rust, and rust is never a good thing. It would be interesting to find out though

[DeepThought]

Each eruption will be different and the composition of the lava (and pumice) will contain different minerals.

That said most pumice will be ancient and anything soluble will already have been leached out. Most of my experience is freshwater and I used to test rock was inert using a little strong acid to see if there was signs of leaching.

A

[fishmonkey]

hmm, from what I have heard, lava rock is a big no no because of the metals in it. if pumice is related to lava rock, then in my opinion, I wouldnt chance it...

[dangerous]

Hey everyone, i would like to try this in a biorb life 60, i would need to make it inside the tank, due to the small opening!( eh the tanks new and has no life or water yet!), i would like a tall structure with overhangs and shelfs, my question is can this be built in stages ie level at a time, as i think the shape i'm looking for, could no way be built in one go! ????

Thanks in advance

[thincat]

In that small an area your DIY rock would take forever to cure if at all. You could build it in stages and cure it outside the orb and then assemble it in the tank.

[dangerous]

Cheers for the advice Thincat

[SnailPowered]

So, it has been a few months since any pictures were posted, you surely have gotten a new camera by now lol. I am currently deployed so I have lots of time to research and this thread has made me realize that I can make at least half of the rock for my aquarium myself which would save me hundreds and then it would also be in the shape that I want. I get out of the Army in a little over two years so I am thinking about building rock from the time I get back to the States until I get our of the Army. By then I will have plenty of rock made. What is the deal with seeding it in the ocean? If I had to let it dry between seeding and getting it in my tank would all of the bacteria die? I plan on moving from Ga, to the south west after I get out so seeding it in the ocean is an option while I am still in Ga, but it will no longer be an option in my new home.

[thincat]

Welcome and thank you for your Service. If you make your own rock and seed it in the ocean the only way for it to stay seeded is for it to remain in SW with a little light and min. circulation.Seeding in the ocean would give you invertibrate and macro algae so your container would go through a cycle. It would then be fully cured and ready for your tank. If you seed it in the ocean by sure to check state laws. Each coastal state have different laws as to what you can take out or put into the ocean.
If your rock drys out it will no longer be live as the bacteria will die.

[SnailPowered]

Thank you Thincat! My other idea was to make all the rock, and use it and the tank for a FW set up, and then after I move convert to a SW set up and let some snails eat the the algae like the rock that is earlier in this thread. I like the idea of being able to make rock in the configuration that I want without having to stack rock that I bought.

[thincat]

Remember to not make it to thick and to large that it takes forever to cure. Also remember that the bacteria in fresh water will not survive in saltwater.

[Greenmaster]

I plan on making some rock next week I'll post pics when I get them

[thincat]

I'm glad I checked back on this post it's coming along really well. As more people make DIY rock the more information becomes available for future reefers to make their rock.

[brian242pa]

Hey i am doing it this summer probably and if your wieghs a ton that means you might of had too much water in the mix because it really couldn't be to heavy unless you did put too much water. also the plastic shavings are for the coraline to attatch faster. For more information go onto garf.org and go to agronite rocks

[thincat]

I just put my DIY rock in front of the return from the pump into the DT. I then take an object that has lots of coralline on it and scrape it into the return water. This sends the coralline onto the new rock and within a couple of weeks it's full of coralline.
I agree with you on "to much" water as it makes the rock less porous and therefore more dense.
Good luck on the project. Keep us posted...