# Update DIY live rock



## Jay2x

So I'm just cleaning it, and drain it. My question now is, Has anyone done this and added it in their marine tank? I don't know when it's going to be safe for my tank (scared the cement will kill the fish)? These are very porous rocks. Just don't know when to add them in.


----------



## Canadian_Aqua_Farm

When I make cement frag plus it takes months to cure them in freshwater before they are ready to use. I put them in a mesh bag and suspend in a toilet tank. That way the water automatically gets changed several times a day. 

If you put your rocks in a bucket of freshwater for 24 hours and then test the PH you'll know where you are at. At first they will put the PH off the chart. Once they stop doing that you are good to go.


----------



## fkshiu

You must cure the cement until the pH comes down, as mentioned. This can take a period of months depending on the cement mix used. The toilet tank method is a good one.


----------



## Jay2x

Canadian_Aqua_Farm said:


> When I make cement frag plus it takes months to cure them in freshwater before they are ready to use. I put them in a mesh bag and suspend in a toilet tank. That way the water automatically gets changed several times a day.
> 
> If you put your rocks in a bucket of freshwater for 24 hours and then test the PH you'll know where you are at. At first they will put the PH off the chart. Once they stop doing that you are good to go.


Toilet tank is an awesome idea. Will be getting a mesh bag. ty for the idea.


----------



## tang daddy

are you sure those rocks are porous?

seems like alot of work for a couple lbs.....

I've seen people use cement but they look alot different from this, I've never seen people use this type in the reef tank, why not use lava rock which is 10x more porous and costs cents.....

this is the type most people use....
macro rocks - Google Search


----------



## Jay2x

tang daddy said:


> are you sure those rocks are porous?
> 
> seems like alot of work for a couple lbs.....
> 
> I've seen people use cement but they look alot different from this, I've never seen people use this type in the reef tank, why not use lava rock which is 10x more porous and costs cents.....
> 
> this is the type most people use....
> macro rocks - Google Search


I'm open to any idea, still have lots of cement..more experiment to do. Lava rock should be interesting. i dunno where to get em' lol.


----------



## tang daddy

lava rock can be found at a variety of garden centers..... But if you are trying to achieve real rock look dont add pebbles, btw how much rock do you plan on having?


----------



## jay_leask

my friend made his own live rock also http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/diy-area-18/140-plywood-update-768/ he was doing water swaps everyday for 3 months and his ph was still off the chart. so last week we took his rock to a stream and let them sit there till he gets back from his vacation in another week and see how that goes.


----------



## Jay2x

tang daddy said:


> lava rock can be found at a variety of garden centers..... But if you are trying to achieve real rock look dont add pebbles, btw how much rock do you plan on having?


Just enough to make a 30 gallon tank look nice.


----------



## Jay2x

jay_leask said:


> my friend made his own live rock also http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/diy-area-18/140-plywood-update-768/ he was doing water swaps everyday for 3 months and his ph was still off the chart. so last week we took his rock to a stream and let them sit there till he gets back from his vacation in another week and see how that goes.


that's a good idea. damn..there are no stream near me, and some idiot will probably play with it..if i leave mine in a stream.


----------



## Mferko

jay_leask said:


> my friend made his own live rock also http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/diy-area-18/140-plywood-update-768/ he was doing water swaps everyday for 3 months and his ph was still off the chart. so last week we took his rock to a stream and let them sit there till he gets back from his vacation in another week and see how that goes.


its insane how much concrete affects ph, we went to a batch plant last week and did some sampling and their discharged water was PH 12.6 before treatment with CO2 lol, thats so freakin basic.

you might be able to speed things up by either putting vinegar in the water to neutralize some of the lime


----------



## jay_leask

Mferko said:


> its insane how much concrete affects ph, we went to a batch plant last week and did some sampling and their discharged water was PH 12.6 before treatment with CO2 lol, thats so freakin basic.
> 
> you might be able to speed things up by either putting vinegar in the water to neutralize some of the lime


yeah my friend tried that too for a couple of weeks and still was off the chart.


----------



## Chewie

How is the DIY live rock going? I have just made some myself. Using crushed oyster shell and portland cement. I made about 80lbs worth so far. In some tubs of water curing. I just wanted an update on your progress to see if I have wasted my time or not. Mine is hopefully going to be for a 100g FOWLER (predator) tank. May add some to my reef tank once I see how it works. Will add about 30 lbs of "real" live rock to tank first then slowly add DIY ( once fully cured though) I have tried to make as thin and pourouse as possible to help with cure speed.
Would baking soda or powder mixed in cure tank help any...


----------



## jay_leask

my friends was still off the charts so he put it in a different creek and they washed away and smashed. he tries for months to lower the PH, and nothing.


----------



## cichlid

the PH is the trick. The recipe I saw was rock salt, oyster schells, white portland, tho I am sure gray is fine, I am gathering supplies I want to do a batch. I too have wondered how they bring the PH down. what should the PH be at for salt. Once the concrete is hard (24-48 hours) it should be fine, the powder contains linestone.

Is there any way a project like this could be done for a cichlid tank... in place of lace rock, just a thought.


----------



## jay_leask

cichlid said:


> the PH is the trick. The recipe I saw was rock salt, oyster schells, white portland, tho I am sure gray is fine, I am gathering supplies I want to do a batch. I too have wondered how they bring the PH down. what should the PH be at for salt. Once the concrete is hard (24-48 hours) it should be fine, the powder contains linestone.
> 
> Is there any way a project like this could be done for a cichlid tank... in place of lace rock, just a thought.[/QUOTE
> 
> my friend used the exact same thing and the ph was off the charts. maybe if you use less cement the ph will be lower? we couldnt seem to figure it out.


----------



## Chewie

*still curing*

Have had my first batch curing for about 3 weeks now. The ph is slowly getting lower. I have been doing water changes every 2nd day. I have heard people use rock salt as well in their mix. I thaught at first it was just to create a more pourous rock ( the salt disolves when curing causing more pours) but i googled curing concrete with salt water and it actually makes it cure faster and harder. I have just made a batch with salt ( i am trying water softner salt crushed up to smaller peices) and will see how it compairs to my first batch. I am also wondering if boiling it in water for a few hours will help any.

To answer cichlid the ph should remain at around 8 for saltwater.


----------



## cichlid

if the PH is around 8, then why couldn't this be used for freshwater? I was told this is not good for fresh water. I was going to make some caves for cichlids.


----------



## Chewie

I don't see why it would be bad for fresh water, as long as it is cured properly and you didn't add anything funky to the mix that will leach out ( plutonium...lol). I am no expert but IMO as long as the "rock" has been cured properly and its not sendind ph through the roof, staying steady at around 8, then as long as the fish can handle that ph it should be fine.


----------



## doc3toes

i have mine curing in a bin connected to the down spout on my roof. this time of year that means constant water changes. only a few days old so i havent checked ph yet.


----------



## doc3toes

ph off the chart still


----------



## Chewie

my ph is still pretty high. it was lowering a little, now seems stuck around 9. Come on guys just a little more. The down pipe is a great idea, started that myself last week.


----------



## Chewie

Ok, here is an update. 
Took some of rock out of buckets and placed on plywood outside, kept other in buckets with down pipe from house roof for automatic water change when raining. Got tired of waiting, put some rock that was on plywood back in a tub of water with prime water conditioner. Tested a few days later, ph still a little high, but decided to start adding to tank. I have added a few peices now over the last few weeks. Constantly check ph and so far it is good, sitting around 8.3. I am adding to my 100g tank that has two damsels and about 50lbs of live rock. So far so good. I even have a surge in my coraline growth. It seems to be taking to the diy rock good. This project may have been worth the long wait...


----------



## bingerz

i can't wait to see some pictures!!!


----------



## Chewie

I will get some pics up this evening.


----------



## doc3toes

i've been adding some pieces to the 175g and so far the ph is staying in check. i have a ph monitor coming in the mail, hopefully that simplifies things.... waitin on your pics


----------



## Chewie

*Pics of my rock*

This is about 1/4 of the rock I made. The lighter colored ones are dry, the others were just pulled out of soaker tub.


----------



## effox

Looks legit. How'd you form the shapes?


----------



## Chewie

*shapes*

I got a rubbermaid container half full of sand. Just dug holes, slapped mix in, covered a few spots with more sand, added more mix. The key is to make the mix fairly dry. That way you can add lumps here and there without it going flat. I even poked macarony noodles and placed spagettie noodles in spots. It slowly disolves ( and sprayed out with hose) when curing. I am thinking of making more soon. ( Try to sell it?) I may video the whole process and post it here. Oh and when curing don't put hose in tub and let slowly run, my water bill jumped $100 for the last few months, do the down pipe trick mentioned earlier--make use of our wonderful rainy seasons...


----------



## doc3toes

looks pretty much like mine. i am going to make more when i get my ph meter so i can chart the ph better. i'll post that info in a couple months. chewie, show us some more pics once it is all in your tank, eh.


----------



## effox

I only have a 29g so I didn't need to worry about doing the rock myself, but this is a great project, thanks for sharing guys, I can see the savings with a larger tank involved!


----------



## Chewie

Hey doc, where are you getting ph meter from and how much? I am looking to get one to take guess work out of matching colors, just seen the price for some and would rather spend it on other things.


----------



## ncutler

I've been making some DIY rock myself. Since I've got iron oxides to colour cement, I'm trying to color my rock as well to create a theme. Using the oyster shell, water softener salt (it's bigger than rock salt) + grey portland cement. Apparently grey portland sets faster than white. I'm using grey mostly because my iron oxide color only works for it. Make sure you get the portland cement, some use polymers and they aren't food grade.

Apparently, adding rock salt/water softening salt speeds up the curing process since it helps to keep the ph lower. I would imagine this would only really be worth it for conditions where you can't change the water very often.

I've put mine in the toilet bowl with a ph meter, within 1 hour it's jumped from 7 to 8. So my conclusion is the more you change the water the faster it will be. Over night it went to 9.2. I'm at about 4 days of curing currently.


----------



## bingerz

chewie, those look nice!! how long has the curing time been? like around 4 months? i really wanna try this!!


----------



## Chewie

I made my first batch in Sept. It is the curing that takes so long. I may have just waited longer than I should of but it is better to be safe than sorry. Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation has a lot of great info on DIY rocj


----------

