aragocrete

[afss]

Any one that has made this. What type of cement did you use, and how long did it that to cure?

Scott

[CVu]

portland cement [available at home depot for about $9 for 40kg., {i have lots left if you want some}]. it took about 6 weeks to cure with 2-3 water changes a week. first couple of batchs looked a little too man-made, but ended up with some nice caves and branches.

[McQ]

Scott

I used portland cement too. I mixed the cement with crushed oyster shells and imbedded bioballs in to the "rock". I used aragonite as a mold. Took about 6-8 weeks to fully cure.

The rocks come out light gray. I put them in my tank with the sand I got from you in March and they are already covered in coraline algae. Can hardly tell the difference from the live rock I just added.

Mike

[afss]

wow, that sounds good. glad the sand etc is working for you
you got any pics of the rock?

Scott

[johnfish]

Check out GARF

http://www.garf.org/

under "How to - pages" "Aragocrete

Lots of tips and tricks.

They use PVC fillings because coralline algae loves to stick to PVC.

Cheers:)
John

[afss]

Thanks for the link.
I had seen the GARF pages before and i plan on using them as a basis of knowledge, just looking for ""real" experience and results. GARFs images have often been accused of being photo shoped etc.

Would really like to see some pics McQ
or anyone else that has aragocrete in their tanks.

Scott

[Mitchell]

yeah cmon McQ lets see those pics!!!

[User Name]

Here nice pic http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tents3/diylr.html or just make a search with diy live rock !

[afss]

cool link, thanks

I also want to see what people rocks look like after a month, 2 months, 3 months etc to see how quickly they start to look like live rock. I know GARF etc had pics, but as i said, i have heard that they photo shop stuff. I would like to see pictures from meembers that have done this.

Scott

[Duce]

Where can I get portland cement?
Went to Rona didn't seem to see any....
Thinking of making some frag plugs.....

[afss]

I think rona should have it. I know home depot does. Thing is the aragocrete mixes from the amaerican boards say to use portland #3 (i think) and here i could only find portland # 10

not sure what the difference is

Scott

[User Name]

Afss you can all way's see the covering rapidity of red calcareous alge from a other aquarium but it will never apply to your's , just be sure to maitain calciumn lever over 400mg/l , for the caulerpas
(if you want some) don't worry! they will attack as soon as they will ''see'' ;)

[afss]

don't want calurpas, just coralines, pods, worms etc.
My tanks are fairly mature and have loads of stuff in them, Just curious as to how the cement effects life on and in the rock

[McQ]

I hope these turn out. If you need better pix I can email them to you. These are after 3 months.

Mike

[McQ]

Another...

[McQ]

Last one...

[McQ]

Again, these are only three month old aragocrete rocks with no live rock added for seed (yet). Only seed was 5-10 lbs of live sand placed in sump!!! I wish I had the live rock to properly seed the tank.

Mike

[afss]

wow.. looks like some of the nicer i have seen.
Do you have any tank shots that show how it looks on the whole?

Thanks for posting those..

Scott

[afss]

so you used no live rock in the system at all, no live sand other than what you got from me, and thats it.
Thats freakin amazing looking rock for that. I can see sponges on it, can see macros, coraline, what are the tan colored areas?

Scott

[pbutkovich]

Great looking aragocrete rocks! I have been thinking about making some of my own. I checked out the GARF site as well as many of the post on RC. One post that I was wondering about was by Dr. Ron. He said,
”By the way, oyster shell is between 5 and 15 percent protein by weight. This protein will leach out into the tank as dissolved nutrient. It may cause some problems with algal grow, etc.”
Have any of you ever had a problem with using Oyster shell? Many people also suggested using Southdown as the sand for the mix.
Paul

[pbutkovich]

I just thought of a couple of photos I liked on RC of someones agrocrete. Here they are.
Attachment: rcdiyrockfront.jpg
http://reefcentral.com/forums/attac...=&postid=921634
Nice flat back to go right up against the tank!

[pbutkovich]

Don’t know why they didn’t open here. They did in MS Word before I posted. If you are interested the pics are located at RC in the DIY Forum under the title of
“DIY-Liverock New Texture Approach “
Paul

[McQ]

Scott

The only piece of live rock can attached to an anenome and it was added after most of this growth. All I used was the sand from you. The tan areas are what was left from the diatom bloom I had when the tank was first set-up.

The only real problem I have had that might be related to the aragocrete was a pH problem. The pH was LOW??? I woul think with all the cement and oystershells it would be high. It has since leveled out around 8 pH.

Mike

[Hark]

With respect to the water changes....do you need to cure the rocks in saltwater or can you just use freshwater?

I love the idea of doing my tank all in this and just getting rid of my existing rock I have today....which is amazingly covered in growth already but I always like something new to do :)

Hark

[afss]

Hark,
as i understand it you do the curing in fresh water. I have read sometimes that it may appear to be curred in the fresh water, but will spike again in the salt, not sure why or if its just a wives tale. Most of what i have seen suggests that the cure will take btw 4 weeks to 3 months, with 6 weeks being avarage. I have heard of people using a kids pool to do this in. Heard of another using a tub in the second bathroom. I have heard of people puting a few pieces in their toilet tank, water change per flush:D . I have also heard of people using brooks rivers and lakes to do the cure in. If the brook was large enough it might not be a problem, but in smaller brooks i would think that the concrete could be a problem for the local criters etc..

Scott

[Harky]

here is a question...

I have a pond behind my house, could I use it to cure the rock or do you risk any chance of contaminations?

I really want to give making this stuff a try....it sounds great.

[afss]

I say go for it. When i make mine i plan on curing for 5-6 weeks in fresh and then putting in salt for atleast a week. I figure the being in salt ought to kill off any pests etc.

The only thing i would be worried about from a pond would be oil or gas etc if its near a road. I wouldn't worry much about that either. JMO, but then again i tend to be a little less gaurded and cautious than most when it comes to my tanks.

I am a surveyor by trade and end up coming across loads of brooks etc in my travels. I plan on finding a nice sized one that doesn't have much current and curring my rocks there after the second water change. Just have to find somewhere with enough current, but not too much.. don't want to go back 6 weeks later and find the rocks a mile down stream:eek1:

Scott

[McQ]

To cure my rocks I bought a Rubbermaid garbage can with a lid. I put the rock in the can with a small powerhead and placed it in my driveway beside my garden hose. Everyday when I got home from work I just removed the lid then kicked the garbage can over, stuck in the hose and filled it back up. I did this for eight weeks (I was waiting for my tank to arrive so I was in no great rush). I found the rough treatment improved the appearence of the rocks by knocking off a lot of the mold sand.

YMMV

Mike