My DIY Liverock Thread

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
A

ArcherintheBimmer

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2008
70
0
0
WA
So, over the last couple of weeks I have been experimenting with DIY liverock. I have made several batches which all have varying porosities. Currently it is all in the "salt dissolving" stage. According to most threads/info on the matter it should take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to be safe to go into the aquarium without causing salinity spikes. I originally kept them all in seperate 5 gallon buckets per batch, but got tired of changing the water all seperately, so after about a week or so of constant water changes, usually 2-3 times per day, they are all in a bin together with heat and air to help the process along. These all have varying levels of concrete dye in them, which makes them brownish, which I though was a nice touch and much more natural looking.

img1205z.jpg
http://img188.imageshack.us/i/img1205z.jpg/
img1207h.jpg


So I threw 2 rocks, 1 in each of my aquariums. These ones didn't get dyed very much at all and are pretty much totally grey. Also, these didn't get much salt and all mixed in on purpose so I could throw them in earlier.

firefish posing for ya lol
img1209u.jpg


Anyways, I plan on updating this every so often along the way, so feel free to ask any questions you may have!
http://img18.imageshack.us/i/img1209u.jpg/
 
no, fresh water changes to get the salt out of the rock. Basically the rocks are made up of:

1 part portland cement
2 parts sand/argonite
3 parts salt (batch dependent)

The salt make the rocks nice and porous to promote growth. In order to get it all out I was rinsing them with fresh a lot lol.
 
diy liverock is a great idea and good for those who want to dedicate the time but I will stick with the real stuff. However I thank you for posting this to help those with the DIY desire to do this.

mr.reef24
 
Nice to see this thread, I have also made DIY live rock. Actually as base rock for my 265 gallon set up.

So besides disolving the salt that you used to make the rock you are also letting the rocks leech the lye or lime (whatever it is) Cause that will cause high PH spikes.

My rock has been soaking for 3 weeks now and probably has at least 3 more. The Ph Levels in the bin my rocks are in is off the charts.

I even make one piece with a whole in to to try and hide the pipe that returns the water to the tank.

I look forward to following this thread.
 
Stingingrays;3284473; said:
Nice to see this thread, I have also made DIY live rock. Actually as base rock for my 265 gallon set up.

So besides disolving the salt that you used to make the rock you are also letting the rocks leech the lye or lime (whatever it is) Cause that will cause high PH spikes.

My rock has been soaking for 3 weeks now and probably has at least 3 more. The Ph Levels in the bin my rocks are in is off the charts.

I even make one piece with a whole in to to try and hide the pipe that returns the water to the tank.

I look forward to following this thread.
Click to expand...

oh snap, didn't know about the ph spikes, i'll keep an eye on that too. My rocks are pretty much week 2 curing. I don't think the small ones I put in my tank will do anything, but definately gonna keep an eye on it. I am mainly making these to fill up my 100 gallon, needs a lot lol, but a 265, yikes!

EDIT: how often do you change the water in your curing tank? I'm talking freshwater changes.
 
im noob the the diy lr so bear with me...i would think that if your curing rock for a marine tank, wouldnt it have to soak in sw?
 
RyanP;3287897; said:
im noob the the diy lr so bear with me...i would think that if your curing rock for a marine tank, wouldnt it have to soak in sw?
Click to expand...


At this point in making the rock. Its curing in freshwater to disolve the lye/lime, which causes extremely high PH and for the people who mix rock salt in it dissolves the salt and makes tones of pours.

Then you can cure it in SW to make it truely live rock.
 
UPDATE:

Its been about 3-4 weeks now and most of the salt seems to be dissolved out. The last check it went up about .005 on my hydrometer.

However, the PH level is still nuts! My tap water is the lowest on the sw scale, like 7.4 or something, but after only a couple of days of soaking, the water with the rocks is at 8.8! Hopefully that starts going down soon. I don't really plan on any sort of tank integration until the end of August, so still plenty of time, but sheesh!
 
so did you find a good sound source of instructions somewhere that you can post into this thread. I always stayed away from this for fear of introducing harmful chemicals which seems to be the most common concern. Any insight from those of you who have tried it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom