DIY rock

I am getting ready to convert a 55 gal tank to saltwater. I have bee out o the salywat hobby for about a year now. I have been reading about DIY rock and want to give it a try. Anyone have a tried and true recipe? Anyone have any pics of it in your tank? Any advice is welcome.

 

Hi there - I made some years back, detailed thread with pics here:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-diy-rock-29433.html

I liked the look I got from portland white cement mixed with various things in that thread. I think it made the rock more natural looking than going gray IMO.

I really think the big help came from using a masonry drill bit and drilling a lot of holes in the rock. This really helped make the rock look more realistic.

There were other things I did to make the rock porous - try to think about doing that, otherwise you will have some heavy rock.

You will also need to cure the rock in freshwater for quite a while to get the pH down. Be sure to change that water a lot to speed it along.

Hope that helps - good luck!

 

OMG great pics and nice DIY write up. I recently got back from the Bahamas and MAN are the sand and rocks over there are white! I had to bring two small pieces back and compared them to my other rocks and they shined like the sun. But with coraline growing, it will eventually cover it. So you're right on with the experiment.

 

I did a lot of diy rocks for my current setup, and wile i was in the process i did a video on it for a contest we were having, here is the link... http://www.3reef.com/forums/3reef-s-diy-video-contest/homegrowncorals-diy-video-submission-68097.html it may give you some ideas, and here is a tank shot with them in my tank.





i had allot of fun making them and will make some again, but like Matt said you have to cure them a long time to get the Ph down, small batches i found cure faster then trying to cure a hole barrel at one time...

most of all just have fun with it............

 

I heard you put water softener salt pellets in the mix to create little wholes when they melt in the curing process!

 

We made DIY rock with grey portland cement, wish we went with white but it still looks great. I'll put a video up as soon as we get our large tank. The rocks look so cool. And we are going to save a ton of money!!!