polarbear Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Not trying to take anything away from the other post regarding making your own live rock but had some questions. This might seem stupid but how many people on here make their own rock? It seems kind of easy and cheaper then buying all reef dead or live rock. I'm going to be setting up my 120 gallon soon (I hope) and would consider doing this. Maybe a 50/50 of real rock and home made rock like this. I haven't seen anyones tank that make their own rock. How many of you make your own rock and how has it worked out for you. Also, would you considered sharing some pictures of you tank showing the homemade rock. Thanks for reading and happy reefing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derekreefer Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I have not done this. I am interested in making a rock wall but using LR for the structure of the reef. there is a good build thread of a 20 gallon with a rock wall on the DIY forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) I saw that rock build but I was thinking more on the lines of this YouTube video. I wasn't sure how good this type of homemade rock was for your tank. http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=US#/watch?xl=xl_blazer&v=zFPebEdEoMA Edited January 23, 2011 by polarbear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 http://www.aqua-mags.com/ This guys will custom make rocks for you, I have about 12 of these in my tank and they look really good, especially after the coraline algae starts to grow in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Thanks for the information. Did you have to cycle them before you added them to your tank or where they already done for you. Also have you ever made any yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 No they weren't cycled when I put them in my tank. As long as you are adding them to an established tank cycling them really isn't a problem. Since they weren't originally "live rock" there isn't anything to die off and pollute the tank. I tried to make some rocks myself and I couldn't get the look exactly right so I gave up. I'm pretty sure that this guy is using ceiling texture popcorn material and a ceiling texture gun to make them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Cool. I'm going to give it a try. I'll post some pics once I do so people and chime in with their opinions before I add them to the tank. Thanks again for your responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 If I ever setup another tank I would leave out all the sand and instead have the guy at aqua-mags make me a fake rock bottom an 1" or so thick. A little sand could be thrown on top of the rock to make it look more natural. I would use silicone to glue it to the bottom so that no thrash could get underneath it. I would also have him add magnets in strategic places so that I could attach fake rocks on top of it, the fake rocks would have the other magnet half. You could be really creative and have an entire rock structure that attached with magnets so that you could remove all rock/corals from the tank and dip if necessary and then place them back in the tank in the exact same spot. The rock that he makes is so porous it would make great filtration once seeded and its easy to trim it to fit together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Did you watch the YouTube video I posted? What do you think about the out come of his rocks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Here are some pics just after a week of putting them in, they look much more natural now that they are the same color as my other rocks. There's sooo much more room for corals now. I think that I would experiment with fake rock back wall and maybe sides too on a new tank. Lots of filtration, lots of places for corals, and no coraline covered glass which I personally do not like. My plan is on my tank is to attach encrusting montipora on the visible glass areas on the back and sides of my tank to eventually cover it up. In the pcitures there are 17 rocks total along the sides and back glass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Did you watch the YouTube video I posted? What do you think about the out come of his rocks? link won't work for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Take a look at the video posted in the other post titled portland cement if you don't mind and give me your opinion. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 The tank looks very nice. Is this your home tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Those look pretty good and not too hard to make. It would be cool if anyone interested could meet up somewhere and make a bunch of these all at one time, I've wanted to in the past but never did. Make more rocks that you need so you can pick have some to pick from. 2 or 3 people working on this could knock out a lots of rock in a couple of hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 The tank looks very nice. Is this your home tank? Thank you I moved my tanks from home to my office since I spend most of my time there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Well it's very nice. I saw your 400 gallon one but didn't know that you had others as well. I thought you combined them all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Well it's very nice. I saw your 400 gallon one but didn't know that you had others as well. I thought you combined them all together. You are right, brought my tanks from home and combined them in to the 440. I couldn't afford to spend another minute on another aquarium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsea Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Live rock is the single biggest long term investment in reef keeping. http://www.garf.org/-2010/rockschool.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 So the rock mags are in your 400 gallon? That's cool. Can't wait to get my 120 up and running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 So the rock mags are in your 400 gallon? That's cool. Can't wait to get my 120 up and running. Yes they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Hey did you get my PM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I find I can do a pretty good "superstructure" with limestone honeycomb and flagstone and then set live rock on top, sometimes drilling it so I can use a piece of PVC pipe to keep things pinned together keeping it from getting knocked over or shifting. There are times though when I would take the extra time to do something out of white portland cement. It can be made very dry and worked like clay into a piece of enkamat and then have coral sand or crushed coral & coral pieces or pieces of shell set or rubbed into the surface. Very thin "rock work" can be made this way that does not take up as much space as spray foam would although spray foam would be quicker. PVC can be used to support or hold the enkamat in place until the cement sets up. If the design needs it to be left in place I paint it black first. Here's a link for enkamat http://www.aquaticec...Nylon/enkamat/0 I used the the above technique to build a wall on a tank built in place. It had two 1/2 CPVC loops, one at the top and one about 3/5ths from the bottom, to hang the enkamat from. Some pieces of honycomb were incorporated around the bottom and a few "light weight" pieces of honey comp and broken coral pieces were tie wrapped to the CPVC & enkamat and then portland cement was worked into the enkamat holding everything in place so there was no worry about the tie wraps breaking in the future. About 60% of the wall ended being portland cement with crushed aragamite and broken shells layed onto the surface and was predominatly only 1/2" to 3/4" inches thick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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