DIY Live Rock

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by el_piraña, Jun 20, 2010.

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  1. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    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. :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2010
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  3. blackraven1425

    blackraven1425 Giant Squid

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    Cement is supposed to (approximately) be a thick, lumpy goop. "Wet dirt to mud" is a decent phrase to describe the consistency.
     
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  4. jakeh24

    jakeh24 Pajama Cardinal

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

    suckafish Montipora Capricornis

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  6. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    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.
     
  7. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    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 :)
     
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  9. suckafish

    suckafish Montipora Capricornis

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    and remember we like pix!
     
  10. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    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:
     
  11. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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

    [​IMG]

    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...
    [​IMG]


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

    [​IMG]
     
  12. el_piraña

    el_piraña Flamingo Tongue

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    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.