Steph's Marine Escapade

[-Nemo-]

I've wished for a bigger tank ever since basically the day after I set my current one up... Over two years later and now i'm finally in the beginning steps of upgrading the tank.

My current tank:
29g Reef tank
Set-up: March 2007

Fish:
2 false Perc Clownfish
1 Six line Wrasse
1 Gold Headed Sleeper Goby
1 Wheeler's Watchman Goby (maybe... Haven't seen him in months, but that's not uncommon for him)

Inverts:
Around 5-10 Blue legged Hermits
5 Different types of snails (turbos, trochus, nassarius)

Coral:
Kenya Tree
Anthelia (this stuff is a weed)
Green Star Polyps
Various different mushrooms
Button Polyps
Closed Brain

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The upgrade: 60g Reef tank

Things I'm changing this time around:
- Gluing rocks together (No more things falling over)
- Drilling the tank (Siphon makes me paranoid and is very inconvenient)
- Better aquascape
- Placing sand around the rocks, instead of putting the rocks on top of the sand
- Using refugium instead of just a sump

Project 1:
Making Liverock

I currently have about 20 Pounds of Liverock in the tank (all rubble rock so no large pieces)
I thought it'd be interesting to make the other 30-40 pounds of live rock and especially being able to shape the rock into specific shapes. So this week I will be attempting to make the rock out of the following materials:

Cement (brand to be decided/bought)
Old castle Play Sand - White (Largely aragonite based, took a month to find the right type)
Plastic shavings (from PVC)

Here is a rough idea of the structures I have mind, coming to around 5 different large pieces of rock.

The three layers will be where most of the current rubble rock I have will be glued onto, to create a more nature look. The coral will also go along on these shelves. There will be small legs of rock to prop up the shelves. On the bottom will be a cave coming from the bottom shelf for my sleeper goby, and on the right will be a small platform for one of the rocks containing anthelia (the clownfish host this). The remaining rubble rock will be skattered about. Opinions appreciated on this idea.

Much of this tank if going to have DYI projects (the lighting, stand, refugium etc...) Hope you guys can help guide me through some of it, it's going to be keeping me busy this summer!

-Steph

 

[kj23502]

Wow sounds exciting!! Also sounds like a lot of work. What kind of lighting will you be putting on it?

 

[-Nemo-]

In the plans right now are one MH with 2 actinic T5s and some moonlights on the side.

 

[kj23502]

lighting sounds awesome!

 

[-Nemo-]

Had a busy week and only got a chance at making the rock today. So here's an update:

Before going ahead and making the final, large pieces I'm going to want, I decided to make a few small pieces using two different recipes and see how the texture came out.

Recipe 1:
- 5 Parts Sand
- 1 Part Cement

Recipe 2:
- 5 Parts Sand
- 1 Part Cement
- 1 Part Crushed Calcium Carbonate

Products Used:
- Kolorscape Old Castle White Play Sand (Aragonite Based)
- Quickrete Portland Cement
- Crushed "Oyster" Shells (Really just crushed calcium carbonate) Gravel-Sized



For the first recipe, I took a shoebox, lined with plastic, and filled it half way with damp sand. I dug out the sand, and used it to create an arch mould. I then poured the recipe 1 mixture into the mould and flattened it down firmly.

It was then sprinkled with sand (Forgot to take a picture before it was covered in sand )

The rest of the recipe 1 mixture and some of the recipe 2 mixture, was moulded using egg cartons.

This shape should prove well for frags and the legs for the rock shelves.
The rest of the recipe 2 mixture was made into two different shapes on top of the egg carton.

The cement should be cured and hardened enough tomorrow, so then i'll see how well it came out and which recipe is more to my liking (I have a feeling it will be the second).

All the pieces are then going to soaked in vinegar for around 12 hours and then kept in water for a few weeks, with daily water changes.

I'm just hoping for now that none of it crumbles

 

[ben1987]

i love new tanks and DIY stuff! will be watching with interest

 

[-Nemo-]

Thanks
DIY is certainly worth it in some cases! (I hope this is one of them)

 

[seffieuk]

Really interesting Steph (by the way we share a first name )

Is concrete reef safe? I suppose it must be...........


Seffie x

 

[-Nemo-]

From what I've read, the moat important thing about using concrete is making sure that it doesn't effect your pH. That's why its being soaked in vinegar and then water for a few weeks. That should keep it from doing so.


Very happy about how the pieces came out, they're very irregular, therefore natural looking, and a bit porous. Not as porous as I would like, next run I may add salt in an attempt to create more porous rock. The textures of both doesn't show much of a difference, so I think I'm going to go with Recipe 2, in order to have the additional calcium carbonate.

Recipe 1 on the left, recipe 2 on the right:

The two bigger Recipe 2 Shapes:

The Recipe 1 arch that I moulded in the sand has not fully cured yet (which was to be expected because of the damp sand). I'm going to soak these in vinegar to help with the pH. The vinegar should also eat away some of the concrete to help create an even more natural look to the rock. Pictures of what it looks like after the vinegar soaking

 

[TigerIssey]

I am very impressed with how these turned out so far, it really does look quite natural and once covered in algae and such I am sure they will blend right in. Will be watching to see how they fare after the soaking.

 

[SkiFletch]

Nice look steph. Can I make a suggestion for curing it? If you have an older 5gal flush toilet, put the rocks in the cistern (the thing on top with the freshwater). The constant waterchanges from flushing the toilet will help it cure faster

 

[garybuk]

Nice look steph. Can I make a suggestion for curing it? If you have an older 5gal flush toilet, put the rocks in the cistern (the thing on top with the freshwater). The constant waterchanges from flushing the toilet will help it cure faster

I like that idea ski!! i tryd once making my own diy live rock! i got told to only use portland cement?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Will be watching this one. I did think of making my own LR as well but got put off by the amount of time it takes to cure. Make sure that you test the water it is curing in to check the PH. Once it drops off if should be safe to use.

I might actually have a go at making some rock as I really need a load for my tank at the moment and cant afford LR so not really got anything to lose

Seffie - Concreate is reef safe if you use the right stuff and you cure it in water for long enough.

 

[-Nemo-]

Thanks all
Funny idea there Ski, but I don't think the big pieces are going to fit in there and honestly that creeps me out a little... I could never have one of those toilet tanks (where the tank is built into the back of the toilet).

Sorry for no pictures, will put some up tomorrow, rock's been sitting in water for a few days now.

@Seffie: The concrete itself is perfectly safe, I did plenty of research beforehand, and the only issue to arise seems to be pH troubles.

@Gary: Yes, all of the recipes I read suggested to only use Portland cement as well, which is what I did.

 

[garybuk]

Thanks all
Funny idea there Ski, but I don't think the big pieces are going to fit in there and honestly that creeps me out a little... I could never have one of those toilet tanks (where the tank is built into the back of the toilet).

Sorry for no pictures, will put some up tomorrow, rock's been sitting in water for a few days now.

@Seffie: The concrete itself is perfectly safe, I did plenty of research beforehand, and the only issue to arise seems to be pH troubles.

@Gary: Yes, all of the recipes I read suggested to only use Portland cement as well, which is what I did.

Let me know how it goes! mine didnt go to well gave up earley!