Aragocrete TOTW 1-17-05

[canada55]

I would like to know too what dye methods have been used to color aragocrete - dye product manufacures names, specifics (don't want to posion tank) - food color, what was used in above post to create red color,,,any one actually used powdered concrete color...Thanks...How about puffed wheat as a filler too....

[PowerBarDC]

The corn starch packing peanuts sounds like a great idea. Has anyone actually tried these? Some other thoughts for creating surface area:

1. Cubes of JELLO
2. Channels made out of a thick deli mustard
3. Oyster Crackers (the type served with clam chowder
4. Small chunks of bar soap
5. Cooked Rice (I think this would degrade faster than pasta)
6. Sinking algae pellets
7. Sugar Cubes
8. Shoe Laces

Other items that could be used as filler materials which would remove items from the waste stream, and prevent them from ending up as debris in the ocean:

1. Plastic (already mentioned) - cd jewel cases, hard plastic packaging, yogurt containers, chopped up credit cards / gift cards, mustard / ketchup / salad dressing bottles, soda bottles, etc
2. Old buttons
3. Broken glass (wine bottles, juice bottles, etc)
4. Egg Shells
5. Broken plateware, porcelain sinks, toilets

Many of these waste products are already used to make terrazo floors and new kitchen / bathroom counters. Check out EnviroGLAS—Walking on recycled glass! to see examples.

Am I crazy or do any of these things seem feasible? I don't actually have a marine tank yet, but when I finally set one up, I want it to have Zero impact on the ocean and the environment.

[The R/C Man]

Hey All! While creating your own rock seems like a good idea I believe that it lacks the appropriate composition for growth of organisms. Does anyone have pics of coraline algae growth on homemade rock? I have heard that it won't grow on it. Also the lack of pores throughout the rock makes it less able to support micro organisms..... The whole point of live rock is to use it as a filtration method. Doesn't this method negate that? Please correct me if I am off the mark. This is just what I have understood thus far.....

[scubadude]

Does anyone have pics of coraline algae growth on homemade rock? I have heard that it won't grow on it.

Greg,
That is just silly heres some pics that not only show coralline algae growth on my man made aragocrete but also shows that my pocillapora choice of new growth was on it as well.

I will try and pull up some more pics with zoos, GSP's and all kinds of other growth on the very same tripod

Here is a picture of some aragocrete tripods I made


one of the same tripods after about 4 months in my tank

[scubadude]

Ok heres some more...the last post I made w/the first pic shows the rocks I made ...one of them was a flat piece like tonga shelf. Here is the same piece taken in series...note that I drilled holes in the top to accomodate frags being glued into place

starting to get some coralline growth on it


frags now starting to encrust


and here you can see the corals actually running into each other

[The R/C Man]

"Greg,
That is just silly heres some pics that not only show coralline algae growth on my man made aragocrete but also shows that my pocillapora choice of new growth was on it as well."

LOL! So I was wrong twice this year.... So what about its porosity?

[PowerBarDC]

I would think it would be fairly porous since the recipe calls for 1 part cement to 5 parts of aragonite sand/gravel. Also, I think if you incorporate other items that will dissolve or degrade over time into the aragocrete that would create additional surface area. Hopefully the items added would dissolve or degrade during the curing stage.

Of course for me, this is all theoretical since I've never made any aragocrete.

[scubadude]

So what about its porosity?

Ok as far as the porosity goes, when you lay the aragocrete when its wet you lay it in layers. First a layer of aragocrete then a layer of sand, then another layer of aragocrete that somewhere joins the first layer of aragocrete then when the crete dries you can simply wash out the layer of sand to create your caves, caveates, small holes, and other creative porous areas in the rocks. The trick is being creative, making aragocrete rock is for someone who has the time to do this and would have fun doing it. Alot of people think well that would just take up too much time, and yes it does take up some time but there is some pretty awesome creations coming out of DIY rocks now-adays because of the ideas. I will try and dig up some more pics I have a closeup of one of the tripods where you can see there are holes in it from the sand layers I made

[The R/C Man]

I see... Good info. Thanks!

[The R/C Man]

If I get froggy, maybe I will whoop up a batch. My 375 is going to need a lot of rock. It will send me into bankruptcy if it is all live rock... I was thinking about using PVC to prop some of it up though. I do however plan to leave plenty sand in the tank. I do not want just a wall of rock and coral. The plan will be to keep coral count down allowing them to becom large colonies. Still we are tanking hundreds of pounds of rock...

[scubadude]

I was thinking about using PVC to prop some of it up though.

Greg this is a great idea, you could even cover the pvc with the aragocrete...and even send flow through it if you wanted.....the possibilities are endless...I even used a little red dye to make it look more natural to start with heres some pictures of some standpipes for my outflow from sump that I made w/ aragocrete on them.

[PowerBarDC]

Here are a few links to some articles about DIY live rocks from Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation Home Page. Their website is a little out of control with frames and so forth... also rather unorganized, but there is a HUGE amount of info here.

How To Do Information Pages (scroll to the Aragocrete section)

The following links are all actually listed on the page which is linked above.

Reef Aquarium Farming News #8 p 1
REEF AQUARIUM FARMING NEWS # 11 p 3
REEF AQUARIUM FARMING NEWS 10 p 2 (towards the bottom of this page there is an article describing the use of pasta to create impressions and channels in DIY live rock)

[The R/C Man]

Rocky,

That looks cool....

The 375 will have no internal hoses, pumps or any type of equipment in the display. I designed it specifically to minimize maintainence and potential problems that could arise in the future, such as leaks from bulkheads. It scares me when I see tanks drilled in the bottom. Can you imagine the work required to repair that. Holy cow! :O

The homemade rock does seem to be coming along though. When it was first the rage the rock was very solid in appearence. The stuff you are making along with others looks much better. Practice makes good-er!

Maybe I will start working on some just to see how it turns out. :-)

[scubadude]

Greg,
Check out the 3rd and 4th page of this thread

Reefs.org Forums :: View topic - My new tank 500G - (84X48X30)

Sanjay did a sweet job with his aquascape....you might be interested in this type of scape too.

[The R/C Man]

Yes he did! Thanks for the link....

[Cas]

Greg:

A lot of people in Chicago swear by this guy Marco Rocks The finest aquarium rock available, base rock, live rock, reef rock, marco rock, reef tank saltwater fish, live corals, Marco rocks, Fiji live rock, Tonga Live rock

They use this as base rock and then seed with LR. especially the people setting up larger tanks. HTH.

[jaysonhadwick]

Anybody know of a fast way to cure? could you possibly use phosphate removing media in a filtration system on your curring pond so you would have to do less water changes? Is this too expensive? what about on a large manufacturing scale? what do waste water managment stations use, could this type of system be used to leach toxins from the rock on a more efficiant time frame?

[scubadude]

hi jaysonhadwick
Welcome to Reefland!

Alot of ppl just put a few of the rocks in the reservoir of their toilet that way each time the toilet flushes the rocks are getting flushed w/ fresh water.

[Gordon]

I would NEVER have thought of the toilet reservouir. Great idea!

[jaysonhadwick]

thats friggin amazing!
ok another question then, during the phosphate cure, if you use highly diluted muriatic acid as apposed to vinigar as an accelerator would you have to nuturalize it with lime or could you simply just rinse it off with water?

and I'm talking diluted to the point where it has the same ph as vinigar.