Diy Live Rock

[pmb_67]

Hi folks,

I'm thinking about making some "live" rock myself - in other words, making some sort of artifical rock at home that's the shape I want, that will become live (i.e. crawling with filtration bacteria and edible beasties) eventually by virtue of being in the aquarium with real live rock.

So, firstly - how easy is this to do? I've read here and there that a mixture of portland cement and aragonite sand is your basic starter point, with some ideas suggesting adding some salt to the mix so it dissolves after the rock is immersed in water and leaves the rock really porous, others suggesting adding some lumps of live rock rubble etc. Any tips on this whole area?

Secondly - does it work long term? Are the rocks stable and strong enough, do they look realistic enough? My goal is to make something I can use as a base/background, with the real LR making a couple of bommies (Australian diver-speak for "lumps of rock") in front.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

 

[ben1987]

hi.

it sure is possible and lots of people do it, but its not as easy as may seem. You need to get all the ratios correct or it starts to crumble over time. It also takes a very long time to cure and PH level out. You have to stock much slower that when using traditional live rock. You are also certain to have a nast hair algae outbreak.

If it still sounds like fun to you...ive always fancied it. Then its white portland cement you use.

 

[seffieuk]

Nemo is just in the process herself - take a look at her journel. To me though, its too much mess that takes too long to cure

Seffie x

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Nemo is just in the process herself - take a look at her journel. To me though, its too much mess that takes too long to cure

Seffie x

Nemo is female! Sorry Nemo, for some reason I always thought you was a guy!

Anyway back to the point. I have thought about this as well. From what I have read from different people that have tried it the results are pretty mixed. Some have said that it works great while others have said that its complete rubbish.

I think the main reason for this is the way people are making it. Different mixtures give different results (some not being very strong and falling apart over time and others being too dense and heavy so useless for filtration).

I would say give it a try but don't expect to use it right away (unless you are making very small bits to put in a large tank) as it will have a drastic effect on the PH of the water which takes a long time to go away.

Most people I have spoken to have said that it took between 3-6 months to properly cure the rock so it doesn't leech and effect the PH anymore. This is the main reason I haven't done it because I couldn't wait that long

Also everyone agrees that it looks rubbish for at least the first 6 months but after this it starts to look more natural. I can agree with this as I have some base rock in my system that looked horrible and white for a good 6-7 months but now you cant tell the difference between that and the actual LR.

 

[-Nemo-]

Hi folks,

I'm thinking about making some "live" rock myself - in other words, making some sort of artifical rock at home that's the shape I want, that will become live (i.e. crawling with filtration bacteria and edible beasties) eventually by virtue of being in the aquarium with real live rock.

So, firstly - how easy is this to do? I've read here and there that a mixture of portland cement and aragonite sand is your basic starter point, with some ideas suggesting adding some salt to the mix so it dissolves after the rock is immersed in water and leaves the rock really porous, others suggesting adding some lumps of live rock rubble etc. Any tips on this whole area?

Secondly - does it work long term? Are the rocks stable and strong enough, do they look realistic enough? My goal is to make something I can use as a base/background, with the real LR making a couple of bommies (Australian diver-speak for "lumps of rock") in front.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

As mentioned by seffie, I am currently making my own which will be used when upgrading to my 75G. Most of the rock is going to be DIY, only about 20lbs is actually going to be real LR.

There are a ton of different recipes to try out, I tried several before coming up with my final which I really liked. I have the recipe and pictures in my journal (link in my sig) if you're interested. I used salt, but it has not yet all dissolved for me to determine whether I like it or not.

While researching this idea myself, I saw tanks which has been set-up for years with DIY rock and I heard no complaints from anyone. The coraline growth will make it look realistic enough, that just takes some time. As to the stability factor, that's one of the reasons to have to test some recipes beforehand.

Nemo is just in the process herself - take a look at her journel. To me though, its too much mess that takes too long to cure

Seffie x

Nemo is female! Sorry Nemo, for some reason I always thought you was a guy!

I should start making a tally of how often that happens

Most people I have spoken to have said that it took between 3-6 months to properly cure the rock so it doesn't leech and effect the PH anymore. This is the main reason I haven't done it because I couldn't wait that long

3-6 months? where did you hear that? As long as the rock's water is changed everyday (or every other) and it is also cured in saltwater after it's freshwater cure, it shouldn't take longer than a couple months.

The rock I made quite a few months ago, was fully cured after 2 months (but I adimit I got lazy with it's water changes).

 

[xxBarneyxx]

That's interesting to hear. I spoke to a few people that have tried it and most said it took at least 3 months before it stopped effecting the PH of the water. I know some of them where just curing in FW not sure if any of them cured in SW. I guess it could depend a lot on how much water you are using to cure, how much rock your curing and how often you change the water.

I have also seen a few people saying that soaking it in vinegar for a few weeks speeds the process up but others have said that this makes the rock more brittle.

 

[AK77]

I think there are video tutorials on www.garf.org. They call it Agrocrete, which is a mix of portland cement and aragonite sand. I've looked into this a few times but, unfortunately coral/aragonite sand isn't cheap in the UK, and making your own probably isn't much more cost effective than buying uncured LR.