Tank update and a call for cheato

[Dallas]

Well my tank has been running for something like 4 months now, finally getting some big algae growth starting, even though you cant tell from the pictures. Ryano lent me his 24'' inch PC fixture and i will be acuiring my first frag soon. Also my 10 gallon is now no more than a quarintine as all my inverts and fish are now in the 55 gallon.

P.S. there is also pictures of my neat new refugium that i made out of an AC20 so if anyone in saskatoon has a handfull of cheato that I can have, please contact me. thanks, enjoy the pictures. As you can see i modded the AC20 into a refugium just like everyone else but with the exeption of eggcrate shelves and a bag of carbon.http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n203/Dallassask/Dallassstuff089.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n203/Dallassask/Dallassstuff090.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n203/Dallassask/Dallassstuff092.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n203/Dallassask/Dallassstuff095.jpg

[jody]

hey i really like your rock, did you make it yourself??

how did that go? was it worth it? how much did it cost?

[tcharger67]

hey where do you buy that eggcrate from

[cowfish1]

home depot 10.00
2x4 piece

[SnAkE]

I have a huge piece of that eggcrate if anyone wants some. I thought I would need it, but it turns out I really didnt. I can hook you up if you know how to cut it...I know I sure as hell dont.

[tango]

use side cutters:frog:

[Dallas]

I made the rock yeh. umm eggcrate you get at home depot just like he said. If your interested it just concrete and crushed oyster shell from early's. The more shell you use the more porous the the rock will be, i've had no problems but your cycle will just be slower and you have to seed you agae and stuff, either with liverock or agae cuttings. Im still looking for some cheato so anyone please i whould really appreciated, i just need a handful.:blob:

[jody]

hmm how heavy does it get with concrete,

and wouldent the cement screw with ur water conditions?

also Snake PM me on that rock!

[Dallas]

umm. i got about 60 pounds in there right now its actually pretty porous but it only gets porous on one side so on some rocks you dont see that. when the other is facing. You do have to cure it though but not the six weeks like some sources say, this rock takes about two. The ph in the curing water was still about 9 when i added it but in a tank this size it wont budge the ph levals, I could see curing it down to 7.5ppm for a really small tank, like 5 gallons and under, glad you like it.

[Rukus]

Yea Id have to say it looks pretty decent. I have hear of people molding them out of sand in a sand box or something in order to get rid of the flat spots. (for anyone considering doing this). Just start growing stuff on em and they will look awesome!.

keep it up.

[Dallas]

Thats how i did it, i had a tupperware container full of sandbox sand and you just dig holes in the shape you want your rocks to be than you make the mix and pour it in the mold, remember to make the inside of your hole lumpy because if it is perfectly smooth than it will not look natural, you can get flat spots but the more lumpy you make your mix with more oyster shell the better it looks, but if you use too much oyster shell than it will crumble when you take it out of the mold.

Im still looking for cheato, P.S. what do you guys think of the refugium?

[Dallas]

Oh yeh sorry Jody I didnt completely answere your question, the oyster shell and the concrete cost me about 30 bucks but you use alot more oyster shell than concrete so if you can buy a small bag of concrete. The bag of oyster shell cost me 15 bucks i think and i still have enough to make 20 more pounds of rock that you dont see in the tank. So its very cheap to make but it does take some time and its messy but i think it will look natural once its got lots of coraline, (it only has a few small patches now). Oh yah also you need sand for the mold, i dont know why on the internet they tell you to use carib sea aragonite but just buy sandbox sand from home depot, its 10 bucks and it was more than enough for a tupperware container about 2 feet by a foot and 10 inches deep.

[fishaddict]

Bump.
Looking for chaeto also.
Could you tell your recipe for diy rock? I'd like to use it to make base rock. Your rock looks awesome, btw.

[Dallas]

Ok so its about 4 parts crushed oyster shell (earlys for 18$ or something) to one part cement. And then you add water until theres nothing left dry, it should be very chunky. Then you pour it into the mold that you have made from sand and let the rock dry for 24-48 hours. than pull it out and cure it in a cooler for a month or so changin the water in it every 3 days. Experiment using more cement or more oyster shell to get the rock as porous as you want it.

[TJSlayer]

What if after you poured it you threw globs of sand on top and pressed if in or some extra shells just so that it wasn't so smooth?

May work....

TJ

[dwerbs]

this thread is from 2006...

[Brettriehl101]

this thread is from 2006...

it can still be answered... i personally have no idea.