Rock making (1 Viewer)

[MarkieB]

you lay out a bed of rock salt, (Using it as a mold to get unique shapes and not have just flat bases) kinda drip the concrete mix onto it until you get the shape you want? ( Correct, drip is good not compresssing it, but don't go thinner than 2 " anywhere, it won't hold up) is that right? then let it sit for a good 2 weeks before i move it into the bay?( It only needs to sit for about a few days to get a cure stong enough to lift carefully, but I read salt water weakens the concrete curing process, so yes wait at least 10 days before putting it into salt water. Lucky you close to the bay! That will be so much easier and faster than what I am doing. )

 

[MarkieB]

FYI

Someone told me theirs was falling apart even after a few days. With the humidity like it has been lately expect a couple extra days for the rocks to set before they can be moved. This is perfect weather though because they dry much slower and overall the cure is better this way.

 

[sbfuller]

mine were still pretty fragile, at least for the first 3 days or so... it's been six now and the thinner areas are seeming to hold up a little better. i'm going to attempt some branching like looks tonight probably. i found that a strong electric drill along with a long metal paint mixer work great for mixing the concrete. i will have way more than i need so once i get it all in the gulf and get what i want, anyone else that wants to come over can get a few pieces.

 

[MarkieB]

Kool,

did they turn out very porous for you?
With the humidity like it has been you probably should wait another 5 days to let them cure a little better before watering them.

 

[convict3]

i can testify that the 4:1:1 ,Shell to crete to water, works very well.

the rocks r strong and very porous.

some site say cast the rocks in sand but when u pull them out even after washing and scrubing the bottoms have sand on them

so i started casting them in salt and they look much better that way imo

thx again markieb for a great thread and all the advice

 

[Scott]

can everyone else who made rocks post some pics please?

 

[sbfuller]

mine turned out pretty porous for the most part except as i got closer to the bottom of the bucket where there was a little more water. i have yet to run water through them to see exactly how porous they are. i made them last tuesday afternoon so it should be about time to put them in the bay. i'll take a few pictures first.

 

[deepsea43]

mine turned out pretty porous for the most part except as i got closer to the bottom of the bucket where there was a little more water. i have yet to run water through them to see exactly how porous they are. i made them last tuesday afternoon so it should be about time to put them in the bay. i'll take a few pictures first.

so where you going to put them in the bay :twisted:

 

[sbfuller]

mine turned out pretty porous for the most part except as i got closer to the bottom of the bucket where there was a little more water. i have yet to run water through them to see exactly how porous they are. i made them last tuesday afternoon so it should be about time to put them in the bay. i'll take a few pictures first.

so where you going to put them in the bay :twisted:

i live in league city so i have a few options that are pretty close by

 

[convict3]

will daily water changers speed up the leaching prosess?

 

[MarkieB]

If you add a power or something to circulate the water good, and did more frequent changes then yes, that will speed it up some.

 

[convict3]

thx markieb i had a 30 gal freshwater tank with UGF set already, now it holds about 30 lbs for curing rock pics coming soon

 

[MarkieB]

You welcome!
Glad it worked out for you!

 

[convict3]

heres a few of the rocks i made
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0949.jpg
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0957.jpg
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0941.jpg
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0936.jpg
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0930.jpg
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0925.jpg
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0924.jpg
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0924.jpg
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg251/convict333/?action=view&current=SANY0923.jpg

 

[MarkieB]

Looks good

 

[convict3]

hi marsh

ok my rocks have finished curing, in good to to boot, but i have found that they r allittle to brittle for my liking so i m going to try
2 parts crete
4 parts shell
1.25 parts water

to see if they r stronger

 

[nemo713]

i really like the way those came out, waiting to see how joe's(bugman) comes out so that i can make some myself.

 

[MarkieB]

So today I played and made a mock up of my new tank!

I planned to do 2 islands using a rod to stack rock, but just playing I realized my rock locks well by themselves so I am not sure how I am going now. This looks much better in person but here was one version of playing with the rocks. You loose a lot of depth in the picture and I have not figured out how to correct that. Building something like this there are tons of ledges and openings. This is 20 " front to back.

I kinda like the look and then I kinda think it looks like a lot of rocks stacked on top of each other. What I do like is I was able to make use of a lot of ledges and think something like this with coral would probably be a really nice display but it is hard to tell.

I will have to play around and try some more versions.

 

[Guest]

Rock

Yeah just if all the flow you plan to have in the tank, will the rock stay
as your set up look. I'd go with the original plan with the rods to stabilize
the rock.

 

[MarkieB]

Because of the way I made the rocks you would be surprise at how stable this actually is. I would us the rods to get a different look and not so much to stabilize. I really want an open look an this is but again the pictures don't capture that. The last picture is probably the best to show some depth and openness this would have.