curing proccess on DIY live rock

what up guys its been awhile...
anyways, so i have read that when you have finished molding the rock, you soak it in vinger and water for a day or two...wat do you guys think?
and what ratio of vinger to water do you think would work. everything i read is alittle different.
here was my plan of attack:
after it comes out the mold, two days in 5:1 vinger water solution
then into straight water (i think tap water is what i read) for a couple of weeks to a month.
then start the salt water and just a regular curing proccess from there.

what do you guys think? what would you do?

as always thanx!!

 

I am preparing to make my own rock as well.
What sort of Cement are you using? I have seen a few types mentioned.

During the curing I believe it is very important to do many water changes.
I will be doing this outside in a plastc garbage can. Every few days I will just dump it out and put the hose in and let it overflow for a while.

 

How you cure it depends on what it is made of. If you used portland cement in the mix you'll need to leave it in water for several weeks doing a water change every few days. You'll see a scum start to form on the top of the water and that is when you change it out. The warmer the water the faster the rock will cure. Test the PH of the cure water until it is neutral because that is where you want it. When it gets neutral, the rock is done. Cement will spike the PH in your tank and you don't want that. As far as using vinegar and water I just cured mine in plain water. Not sure what the vinegar is for. About.com has good info on DIY rock.

 

i am using portland I/II. round one had 3 parts sand 2 parts crushed coral and one part cement. round one came out, i havent washed it yet. i stoked i have round two rock waiting to come out of the mold when i get home!! but the was 3 pt crushed coral 2 pt sand 1 pt cement, and i am going to try something different on this next round, going to use lexan spirls, like get from drilling it. that is if i can get enough for it work.
yeah when you doing the fresh water i was going to the basic same thing. i was thinking about curing in saltwater in the trashcan not the tank but i guess it would be better to just do it in the tank. cause the the water is going to need time too, and it is going to a new tank.

 

I also heard of dissolving rocksalt in the curing water.

Not sure if it would help or not but I don't think it would hurt.

Jbaker, Are you happy with the way your rock turned out?

 

i made a table top and i like that and an arch, but with the arch i smoothed out the sand to much so it doesnt look natural.
i have heard of the rock salt before, its supposed to make nice pits, but i think the plastic shaving are one of the best for housing the bacteria

 

I have read about using quckcrete quickwall instead of portland. It has fibers in it that i believe act much like the plastic shavings would.

 

Can we take the newest pieces out of the mold tonight? I can't wait to see how they turned out.

 

the vigegor will just give you a false reading and does not speed up the 3 wk curing process.portland cement is what you need,but i used cement made from portland cause it was sold in smaller bags,you have to read the fine print.i cure mine in the toilet tank.every flush changes the water,or in summer i've used a stream with clean water.salt water does not speed up the curing process.you can add very small peaces of rock to a very big tank but there will be a ph change.if you don't have the time to cure around 3 wks or more,just buy some tuffa rock or reef bones.

 

I did some research on this as I am wanting to do it myself . I found that it needs to cure so you dont have problems with PH spikes ( I dont mean cure HARD either) it needs to be flushed with fresh water , The best metods for this I have seen is for small quantities putting it inside your toilet water chamber ,so each time it flushes the water it refreshed.
for large Quantities I like the Idea of putting it in a stream/creek for the cure
from what OI understand of all this you will need to do this for atleast 2-3mths to obtain a stable PH in the rock/cement.

I hope this helps answer your Q as to putting it in tonight .