Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board  

Go Back   Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board > General > DIY

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 11-30-2009, 06:04 PM
kbd635 kbd635 is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Prince George. BC
Posts: 16
kbd635 is on a distinguished road
Default Agrocrete / man made LR

Well, where to begin...... ?
I emigrated from Scotland a couple of years ago and brought my tank with me.
My tank is still in the "re-planning" stage, as I need to buy all new electrics (240V in UK), so I'm actually thinking of making my own LR. (not all of it obviously.... lol)
I have the crushed coral sand from my tank, which I have seived to separate the big stuff out and I'm toying with the idea of making some structures using portland cement, softener salt (big grain stuff) and the bigger coral crush (it's about 5mm x 3mm ish).
I have some of those "green" packing peanuts which dissolve in water, so I think I'll use them to create some rock with some bigger holes for critters and higher surface area.
I was intending to just put it in the rain butt and let the rain from the roof flush it out, but that won't work til spring. lol
Any advice / links would be helpful?
K
__________________
http://community.webshots.com/user/kbd635/
Jeez! I miss my tank!
Trigon 350 with sump.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 11-30-2009, 10:06 PM
RCFA's Avatar
RCFA RCFA is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Calgary
Posts: 92
RCFA is on a distinguished road
Default

Check out www.garf.org. They have lots of info on their methods for producing agrocrete.

To cure you can put it in the reservoir of your toilets. Water gets changed often and you use less water when you flush.

Good luck!
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 11-30-2009, 11:51 PM
Planeguy's Avatar
Planeguy Planeguy is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Regina
Posts: 4
Planeguy is on a distinguished road
Default

I have been trying to make my own aragocrete rocks as well. Here is a link to check out. Be forewarned it is extremely long and has been split numerous times. It will take a few weeks to read the whole thing, but there is a lot of information there.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1
__________________
Old enough to know better, not young enough to do it again,
but my memory is so bad that I don't remember what went wrong the first time so I will probably make the same mistake!
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 11-30-2009, 11:56 PM
Reefer Rob's Avatar
Reefer Rob Reefer Rob is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Langley, BC
Posts: 997
Reefer Rob is on a distinguished road
Default

One of the mistakes I made was using the used sand from a previous tank in my rock mix. The sand was so loaded with PO4 it took a year to leach it out. It grew great algae for the first while.

I wouldn't use water off the roof to cure it, too many impurities will contaminate your rock. By the way it takes for ever to cure, allow 3 or 4 months at least.

Water softener salt mixed 50/50 with my cement/sand mix worked great for porosity.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:52 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.