PVC LR Shelf Rack

[rDr4g0n]

well ive heard of people "curing" their agrocrete by putting it in the flush tank of their toilet. every flush is a water change, and since the tank is clean water (not poopy water) its somewhat safe. i guess youre saturating it with tap water chemicals thouhg....

i dunno ill consider it... i really need more LR in my tank, but agrocrete negates one of the great benifits of LR: biological filtration. itll grow in time, but ya know... time lol

[ScubaDrew]

Good point, hmmm. I have a couple bags of Aragonite, so all i need is some Portland cement... Perhaps I'll give this a shot. Does Anyone know what size bags they sell at the home depot? I'm on the motorcycle today and not sure I can carry too much cement in my backpack!

Originally Posted by AdvanceAquatics

Yeah a month in the REEF Time is like an Hour in our time, I feel like I wanted for a year before I got my first manderain....LOl, I really want to try it perhapse I will try it when I convert the 180...that be lots of room to get really creative-I just like to see some one go wild with it . With some crazy shapes and structors

[BigAl07]

Portland is probably in 90lb bags (used to work there and THAT was my isle).

Allen

[ScubaDrew]

Dang, that probably wont work, I'll have to get the car. Since your the expert, do you have any idea if there are portland cements that contain things I don't want in my tank? I'm going to assume, like sand, there are types out there which will do harm... This is the real reason I avoided making my own rock.

thanks,

Drew

Originally Posted by BigAl07

Portland is probably in 90lb bags (used to work there and THAT was my isle).

Allen

[rDr4g0n]

Originally Posted by scubadrew

Dang, that probably wont work, I'll have to get the car. Since your the expert, do you have any idea if there are portland cements that contain things I don't want in my tank? I'm going to assume, like sand, there are types out there which will do harm... This is the real reason I avoided making my own rock.

thanks,

Drew

ive never made agrocrete before, but the site where you get the recipe should be pretty thorough in describing what concrete mixes contain that can be harmful. the 1month curing period is actually the leaching of harmful chemicals from the rock, from what i understand.

in case you dont have the link, pour over this site for hours and hours: Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation Home Page

the site is ridiculously icky to use and navigate, but is so loaded with info its impossible to hate it lol

[AdvanceAquatics]

Yeah Thats a great site let us know how it works out....but i wouldnt try the "Flushing ideal". I know its clean but I cant get the thought of it not out my head.....LOL

[ScubaDrew]

Its no joke, this site is full of information on a ton of topics. I toyed with the idea of purchasing some of the premade Aragocrete rocks, but couldnt really figure out how much it would cost. I think they want you to just call rather than place orders on line.

I might suppliment some of the rock I purchsed from tampabayliverock.com once it gets in and I see how it looks. Someone said it was dense rock, so I might come up short.

Originally Posted by rDr4g0n

ive never made agrocrete before, but the site where you get the recipe should be pretty thorough in describing what concrete mixes contain that can be harmful. the 1month curing period is actually the leaching of harmful chemicals from the rock, from what i understand.

in case you dont have the link, pour over this site for hours and hours: Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation Home Page

the site is ridiculously icky to use and navigate, but is so loaded with info its impossible to hate it lol

[lcstorc]

Other than the fact that I am DIY impaired my thoght is "what's the point?' I have LR in my reef but it is fobiologicalfiltration. Asthetically it looked fine with some dead coral and fake plants. It was not good howver to kill fish after fish.
Now if you are talking about relatively small amounts in addition to your LR I think it is cool how you can make the shape you want etc. It may even become live over time, but it will be a whie.
I have heard good stuff about the Garf style of doing it. I think it is garf.org or garf.com. I would at least look at it and see what you think.

[Triggerjay]

The reason for curing it, is so you dont crash your PH. Portland cement has a VERY high PH until cured. I have also heard you can use rock salt, or noodles in the rock, and when it is curing, it will dissolve, leaving holes to make the rock porus..

Jason

[AdvanceAquatics]

I have heard that as well- and I agree with the PH, it just takes a wjile to stable out-longer then garf makes it sound tho, if you went that root.

couldnt you use Quickcrete? I have used that on my FW backgrounds. And that was in the take 3-4days afterwards Ph didnt move. But maybe FW vs SW the reaction would be different

[Techno-Vicki]

I am in the process of making some for my new tank. I want to do the main structure with the Garf recipe. I would not use anything but the portland cement (make sure it is the white). It took me a long time to find it locally. I will be curing mine in our year round creek. Also, my sister and I are going to be making a fiberglass mold first. We are still working out the bugs. When we actually get the molds going, I will start a thread.

[revhard05]

what if you made your own diy live rock and used pvc in it as frame work to support the rock

[BigAl07]

That's an idea. If you get good enough to be able to make your shapes and molds to incorporate the main structure. Good idea.

Vicki, you ready to start this one?

Allen

[BigAl07]

Vicki are you still considering an attempt at this?

Our club president picked up a composite rock at MACNA that's from epoxy resin and has been coated/rolled in sand & agronite to make it look "Reefy". It's VERY light and molded in many shapes and sizes. The one he got was a wavy flat shelf. It's not designed to be base rock but actually the TOP layer of rock and provides nice areas for frags to attach to etc. I'll get a brand name and post back in this thread.

Allen

[BigAl07]

Vicki? Jack? Yall gonna do this?