DIY live rock

I am a beginner with saltwater tanks, I can't afford live rock so I made some!
I need to know if it is going to work or if I need to start over

Portland 1&2 Cement
Crush coral 20lb (from pet store)
45 lb of oyster shell (uncleaned from restaurant)

first I crushed oyster shell, until I had about 5 -10 lbs of dust and small partials

Mix 10lb concrete with 10 lbs crush coral and 10lbs oyster pieces- I will call this mix the MASH


method 1 - roll MASH in crush coral to cover outside

method 2 - combined MASH with big oyster shells to form different designs


allowed to dry overnight. then placed in 50/50 solution with vingar/water for 24 hours

The next 4 weeks I will soak in fresh water and change water every two days. After that hopefully PH will drop and I will place in saltwater.

The DIY live rock is sitting in a fish tank on my back porch, full sun, no pumps .....just sitting.

Will this work?????

 

well, i know for normal curing of rock you want flow and consistent temps in the tank, never done DIY rock I'd just order some base rock online, can get it for under $1/lb so it's really not a bad investment, then just go to your LFS and buy 1 good size peice of live rock to seed the base rock after it's cured for around a month to help speed it up, takes longer than just buying live rock but it's way cheaper and you dont end up with unwanted critters

 

Here is a thread that should answer most of your questions.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-diy-rock-29433.html

Not mine but alot of information.

 

Sounds like an awful lot of cement in the recipe but I'm not a DIY rock expert. I used a ratio of 1 part portland cement to 6 parts crushed oyster shell for my rocks and then cured them for about 3 months in a big rubbermaid container in the sun, changin the water frequently. PH in the tank still spiked a little when I added it. I believe cure time is the most important aspect of DIY rock. You can actually buy crushed oyster shell from a livestock feed store, it's an additive for livestock feed. I bought a 50 lb bag for like $12 and only used about of it so far. Buying it would save you some work and probably be safer for your tank than using shells from a restaurant. You really never know if cleaning chemicals or something else may be on the shells from there. There are probably 1000 different recipe's to make DIY rock and it's a very slo process but alot of fun. Good luck.

 

that is a lot of cement, and it means more curing time to get the acids out(acids make the pH rise). 1 month might not get it. You may have go for 2-2.5 months. You made some pretty heavy rocks didn't ya I made a few pieces and enjoyed the process....show some pics when you can!

 

This is a great thread! I was curious about making my own LR. Now that i know how to do it, and all the information about it, I can get started!

I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Also, I wonder what would happen if I mixed two different types, real LR and DIY LR, would that change anything? I cycle my tanks for 3-4 months so, we don't have to worry about any levels being high or anything.
=)