DIY Live Rock

I decided to try my hand at making my own rock. I've got the time and I really enjoy DIY projects. I've got NO experience w/ cement so this should be a good learning experience.;D

Supplies:
1 bag of cement, 92 lbs.
2 bags crushed oyster shells, 50 lbs each
1 bag salt (for water softeners)
sand
large rubbermaid containers
(I know....way too much supplies, but if I mess up I don't have to worry about running out!:biggrinbo)

I made up the first batch today. Tried 1 part cement, 2 parts crushed oyster shells, 3 parts salt.

The salt came in pellets, which were too large to use as they were. I had a clear plastic bag in my garage so I put some of the pellets in there and crushed them with a hammer...probably took 5 minutes.

I mixed the cement and crushed oyster shells first, put in enough water to a consistency like oatmeal then mixed in the salt.

I put the sand in one of the rubbermaid containers and hollowed out where the cement should go.

I'm not sure how this will go, I've never used cement before so I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like. After a couple days I'll pull the rock out of the sand and put in water.

didn't get any pics of it today, but I'll try to get some when I pull the first rock out.

If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them.

 

Cement is supposed to (approximately) be a thick, lumpy goop. "Wet dirt to mud" is a decent phrase to describe the consistency.

 

wear gloves, the cement will dry out your hands really bad.
you just want it wet enough to hold it all together.

 

I tried a number of different recipes, and in my current tank set up I have all the recipes in the tank. My addivce try different things, the more the better. You have a of materials to play with. note, i would right down the different recipes. most important have FUN!!

this thread has some pix of the stuff I used.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/hazards-tank-finally-90454.html

 

Thanks blackraven1425 and jake24. I think I've got about the right consistency.
I didn't wear gloves, but I didn't get any wet cement on my hands. I used a small gardening trowel to mix the cement.

 

Thanks...just after my first try I'm already thinking of trying it a little different next time. thanks for the thread, I'll take a look

 

and remember we like pix!

 

I just looked at your thread...the rock does look really good!!! I hope I can have the same results. we'll see soon.
and I'll get some pics soon :thumb_up:

 

I pulled the first rock I made out from the sand and rinsed it off.



well, you can see some of larger salt pieces lol I guess this is how it should look?
Of course, I haven't soaked this in water at all yet to dissolve the salt out from the rock.

Maybe I should crush the salt more next time?

The salt came in large pellets...



I crushed them up some, but maybe I didn't crush them enough, I'm not sure. Does anyone have some ideas for me?

 

I was also wondering, does the cement harden more as it's curing? I noticed that I could break small pieces off pretty easily and I hope it wouldn't do that later on.