DIY Live Rock & Dry Rock

[ActiveAngel]

I’m a little surprised there isn’t any recent threads on this already.

Who around here makes their own dry rock?
•If you’re willing to share; what is your recipe and what steps do you take?
•What advice/tips have you learned while adapting your recipe?

Hopefully we can learn from each other, grow the process, and help each other to save money and decrease our impact on the environment!

 

[dball711]

This could be a great topic for a club meeting, give folks a chance to diy some dry rock.

 

[ActiveAngel]

I totally agree.

 

[thragger]

That's an interesting idea. Doesn't the rock have to have a specific composition to properly maintain the pH of the water?

 

[mattgee87]

I'd love to see this as a topic. My rockscape always looks bad IMO and I'd love to be able to make my own rock to my hearts content

 

[nolan71416]

I know this is a older thread but I plan on trying this is the next couple weeks. I’m hopeful that when I move, sooner than later I hope, I’ll build a 120-200 gallon tank and I need to get the rock cured which takes a month or so.

 

[Steve Burton]

Very interested please keep us posted this will make a great thread

 

[Rickdareefa]

Sweet idea

 

[is_that_a_fish]

Me and my brother have made rocks since the early 2000's with roughly the same recipe. Basically, all it is is portland cement, rock salt (for driveways), and sand/Crushed coral. Make a mold out of sand/CC and pour your cement mixture into the mold, so you dont have flat spots on the bottom.

With this recipe, you will have to cure the rocks for a while to get the pH correct. All we did was keep them in a rubbermaid of freshwater with a power head, and do water changes until the pH was stable. The color will be of concrete. It will look better once corals/algae grow.

The amount of rock salt will depend on how porous you want the rocks. Too little and its heavy. Too much and its brittle. It'll take trial and error. I dont remember the exact proportions we used.

We used DIY rock for almost all of our tanks, with the exception of my current 180 gallon. Only reason being that I was a student in college when I set it up and didnt have the time to make/cure the rock.

Curing takes the longest time out of all of this. it can take weeks.

Also, to get random pieces and a more natural look, we would make big blocks at a time, and drop them from a few feet to break into small random pieces. I'll see if i can find a few pictures of the rock once I get home from work.

 

[YoungReefer10g]

Found a good video tutorial with measurements if anybody wants to check it out .

 

[ActiveAngel]

One of my friends makes his own DIY rock, and wrote down his ingredients for me. I may use this when developing my first recipe; and wanted to share with y’all.

 

[YoungReefer10g]

One of my friends makes his own DIY rock, and wrote down his ingredients for me. I may use this when developing my first recipe; and wanted to share with y’all.

View attachment 12847

From what I’ve heard the white Portland cement is more expensive then the grey Portland cement and they end up looking the same

 

[Justin]

One of my friends makes his own DIY rock, and wrote down his ingredients for me. I may use this when developing my first recipe; and wanted to share with y’all.

View attachment 12847

Did you ever give this a go?? I have been watching a lot of YouTube on this subject. Looks like the way to go when you need a lot of rock.

 

[ActiveAngel]

@Justin Not yet. I’ve got all my supplies and everything together. I just been so darn busy lately, that I haven’t had a few extra minutes to get started.

But soon