DIY Live Rock?

[ChrisCummins]

Hi,
I've been reading on the various ways to make DIY live rock. There seems to be two ways of mainly doing it:

1) Making it entirely from scratch with sand and cement. Carving a shape, letting it dry, sticking it in a bucket for weeks etc, then letting algae grow on it naturally.

2) Buying dead rock such as tufa and either letting stuff naturally grow on it or seeding it with live rock.

Has anyone either of the methods? Does anyone know of any other methods? I would be interested if anyone has done this before.

Thanks,
Chris

[pvtschultz]

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted on RC. Anyways, I ordered all of my rock from hirocks.com. Their rock is actual reefrock that is mined for building harbors and some is terrestially based. The price was quite good and the shipping time was 10 days from CA to WI. I have been using mine for about 1.5 years now. I haven't taken a pic of my tank in a long time...might be a good time to do that, but if you look through my gallery there should be some nice pics of the rock I received. I have been completely happy with it. I know there are a lot of others that have been too. One thing that I did notice is that you will have a small cycle when you add the rock to your tank. Rinse it out really well before you add it to your tank and then take it slow adding fish. I added fish at about 1 per month which in retrospect I'll admit was very fast. I have added fish to my tank now about 1 per 6 months mainly due to shortcomings in cash, but the rest of my fish are extremely healthy and I am more happy that way then through adding a lot of fish and having them ultimately die. Good luck to ya.

[ChrisCummins]

That looks like a good site and good prices. Unfortunately, being in the UK shipping would up the price to astronomical proportions. So essentially you created your own? I could do this with tufa.

Thanks,
Chris

[stingers81]

I second the hirocks, very nice rock

they also have a store on Ebay....its little bit cheaper then their website, look for them

just type in base rock in search and look for hirock as the seller

ps. some people do the whole base rock from scratch....it works just fine but it does seem like a lot of hassle for only $50

[JDS]

The prices are real good. Is your rock really dence or is it pores?

[Paul B]

I build a good portion of my rock. It is PVC pipe that is heat bent and covered with cement. It is hollow and looks better than real rock. Here is a three foot piece.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_DSC00857-med.jpg

here is the construction
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094PVC_rock.jpg
and another piece
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Copy_of_background_rock_003.jpg

[ChrisCummins]

That looks really nice Paul. Is it JUST cement or is there other things mixed in?

[Lpabsolute]

Never thought of this, good job though...

[stingers81]

that is pretty cool
I would say that is worth a hassle
nice job

[Paul B]

Chris, after you bend the PVC and drill a bunch of holes in it, I wrap plastic window screen around it and keep it there with a glue gun. Mix "Sakrete Morter Mix" available in two lb, bags in hardware stores and smear it on. Most of it will fall off but you just need a fine coating. After two days add some more, more of it will stick, after two more days do it again. Keep it up until you have the result you need. It takes about four coats. Don't be neat, the sloppier, the better
The piece in this picture was just added when the picture was taken. It is the large piece behind the two fish and the goby is sitting on it. That is the same piece that I show in the first picture I posted above. Now it is covered with green star polyps.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Copy_of_Idol_foxface.jpg
Here is is again.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Copy_of_DSC00873.jpg
it's above and to the right of the moorish Idol here.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Copy_of_DSC00919.jpg
The mandarin is also eating off another "fake" rock. He does not mind
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/13094Copy_of_Gorgonians1_005.jpg

[ChrisCummins]

Wow, thanks alot Paul for excellent information and pictures.

Thanks,
Chris

[Paul B]

Your welcome Chris