make your own rock?

[StirCrazy]

I have done a lot of reading on this and I mean alot but, I was wondering if anyone has done it? or even thought about it and decided not to do it? (if the later why did you decide against it)

I am not talking about doing all my rock but maby the base rock as I would be able to mold a flat table type of rock with legs that would sit on the bottom of the tank nice.

my line of thinking is I could make the large foundation chunks then buy a nice grade of "real" live rock to sead everything. the effect is two fold 1, reducing the cost to me and 2, less rock removed from nature due to my needs. also it would give me something else to play with :D

Steve

[titus]

Hello,

How about doing what Scott does, use a framework of PVC pipes to provide better circulation, as well as supporting the live rock. This way you don't have to worry about gobies digging in your sand.

[Silverfish]

Hey Steve, I thought about doing it a while back, but from what I read you may have to let it cure for six months or so and I didn't want to wait ;)

I liked the idea of putting the concrete mix into plastic bags and squishing it into cool shapes and then let it harden up.

I have heard of some people putting cooked pasta into the mix so that you get lots of little holes and stuff when the pasta dissolves.

[StirCrazy]

hehe, that pasta would be a organic nightmare if you didn't get it all out.
almost all the reading i have done Bruse says 1 to 2 months with daily water changes.. I was thinking a 50 gal rubber maid in the back yard.

Titus I am not sure you know what I meant, I do not want to build a rack, but I do want stable base peices. also it would alow me to make some custom shapes to obtain the aquascape I want. I have hear about using crusheed oyster shells but I have also found outhey are high in phosphate.. whould this be a problem.. I don't know, but do I want to take the chance?

Steve

[Canadian Man]

Hey steve
I mysel have never made my own rock but 100lbs of the 180 in my tank is tufa(calcium carbonate) rock, or at least it was 8 months ago ;) this saved me alot of money when setting up my tank and i have seen no adverse effects from doing so. only down side is it takes a while for the rock to get all pretty and colorful but it happens eventually.
Jonathan

[One_Divided]

Steve, in my opinion, it's not worth the risk of contaminents from concrete.. Unless you can find a way to hide an ugly pvc frame, buy some quality base rock.. As in live rock that is not live anymore.(and I say that becuase a lot of stuff sold as "base rock" isn't even from the ocean at all). This is another essencial part of the reef that you don't want to take chances on.

Half of the rock in my tank is base rock I got after the tank was set up about a month. I found a guy that sold it to me for $2.50 a pound. I could sell it as live rock now.. if I ever wanted to. tongue.gif

[ 03 March 2002, 23:35: Message edited by: One_Divided ]

[BCReefer]

I might be out in left field but can’t we find live rock or just rock from off the coast, insert it under some lights etc and make it live rock? Why does the rock have to come from down south?

If this works then why can’t I go to White Rock or there about and get some rock?

[christyf5]

Well primarily, the reason we get live rock from down south is the temperature. The water temperature here reaches a max of about 13 degrees during the heat of summer. So you put any rock from the coast in your tank with your tropical stuff and everything dies. Then you have problems. Unless you want to run a chiller and that is a whole other ballgame.

If you're interested in getting rock from around here you'd be best to leave it out in the sun for awhile and then what is the point anyway. You've just killed everything on it and besides that you don't know what may leech out of the rock in your small (smaller than the ocean anyway) tank.

IMO, $7 a pound is a small price to pay for an instant reef. $2 a pound is even better but then I would have to seed it and wait and I don't have the patience for that. Heck, I could hardly even wait the 8 weeks for my tank to cycle (we won't even talk about that one tongue.gif )

Christy smile.gif

[StirCrazy]

Originally posted by BCReefer:
I might be out in left field but can’t we find live rock or just rock from off the coast, insert it under some lights etc and make it live rock? Why does the rock have to come from down south?

If this works then why can’t I go to White Rock or there about and get some rock?<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">our rock off our coast is largly non-calcium based and dense, as it is from crumbling mountians, the "live rock we buy is dead coral that is broken off of reefs during storms and such. (basicly reef rubble) so the difference is the physical make up and the density of the rock, I picked up a 32 lb live rock in the lfs the other day and it was heavy but I have a rock in my back yard I got off the beach and it is the same size but weighs about 100lbs. so we could probably get coraline to grow on it fairly easy but you would not have the tiny holes and such that makes it light and allows de-nitrafacation zones to develope. also you would need about 20lb / gal to make it look good smile.gif

Steve

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

$80 for 50lb of Caribsea in rock form from J&L. BTW...that's what I used.

- Victor.

[StirCrazy]

reef rock (http://www.thatpetplace.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe?UID=2002030600524425&T1=F43+0532+0013&TRAN85=Y&EDP=1843&PRT=D)

is that the stuff yu are talking about Victor?

Steve

[reefburnaby]

yupe

[StirCrazy]

ahh sorry Jonathan, I was going to ask you what exactly tuffa was also. I have heard of it loots but never seen it.. wel that I know of anyways..

Steve

[AJ_77]

Jonathan:
Where in Calgary did you buy your tufa rock??
I needs to know also. ;)
Thanks,
AJ

[Canadian Man]

AJ77;
Well i go to Tanks Alot. on heritage and elbow. talk to jarod. dont kknow if you have ever been here but it is in the basement of the pet store.
jarod will give you great deals. i shouldnt tell you this do dont repeat it to him please.
but i got about 100lbs for 40 dollars. :eek:
great deal. this is where i got alot of my equip for my reef. cheep.
Steve
yea base rock is tufa or calcium carbonate rock.

[Canadian Man]

Steve; as i posted near the top of this post, i am using the same thing as reefburnaby.

[Tau2301]

I bought my Tuffa Rock at landscape supplier, Natural Aggregates Supply Co., over by Pick a Part just off Barlow Trail. Sorry they are closed until Spring.

I got 50lbs for $5.00. They had a good selection of large boulders and slabs.

Took them home, washed with the garden hose, and then went to work on them with a hammer, chisel, and drill with massonary bits. I turned out some very decorative pieces that are current sitting in my tank.

The fish like swimming in and out, and they don't know how little I paid.

[Canadian Man]

Ahhh the creativity of us reefers is amazing, isnt it!

[BCReefer]

So instead of buying live rock from Fuji, we can use tuffa rock? What ratio should we have for live rock vs. tuffa?

After cleaning the tuffa, what else is needed before putting it in the tank?

Thanks
Patrick

[Canadian Man]

BCreefer;
i just rinsed the rock and put it in the tank. this is when i first started my tank. i used about 60-80lbs of live rock and aprox 100lbs of tufa. looked like all the other rock in 2-3 months for me.