garf aragocrete question

anyone try this stuff? The shapes look awesome and if it does indeed take
to becoming live when seeded, it'd make a nice base (from the pics anyhow)

I've never ordered from them but am considering it, just looking for
feedback, good or bad.

Thanks

One of our club members wrote an article about aragocrete that he's made, and
his tank looked amazing.

http://www.dfwmas.com/pdf_files/July%20newsletter.pdf

Marc


John Smith wrote:

anyone try this stuff? The shapes look awesome and if it does indeed take
to becoming live when seeded, it'd make a nice base (from the pics anyhow)

I've never ordered from them but am considering it, just looking for
feedback, good or bad.

Thanks

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

I have made 1 rock so far. Using the same methods. I went to the hardware
store and bought a bag of white concret, then mixed it with crushed coral at
a mix of 1 part concret and 5 or 6 parts of crush coral. I had a foam bucket
ready with a few inch layer of damp sand, I made my shape in the sand, layed
the mix of concret and crushed coral in the shape and left it overnight. The
next day I have a fairly hard rock.

I tryed a second time using less concret and everything fell apart. Since
then I havn't made any more, but I have enough left there to make about 5
more rocks, then I need to buy some more crushed coral. You go through the
stuff quick.

I havn't looked into any other gear to use inplace of the crushed coral yet.
I guess one day I will. Crushed coral isn't cheap, well not here anyhow.


"John Smith" wrote in message
news:YiTvc.15589$aM1.1471@fed1read02...
anyone try this stuff? The shapes look awesome and if it does indeed take
to becoming live when seeded, it'd make a nice base (from the pics anyhow)

I've never ordered from them but am considering it, just looking for
feedback, good or bad.

Thanks

"skozzy" wrote in message
...
I have made 1 rock so far. Using the same methods. I went to the hardware
store and bought a bag of white concret, then mixed it with crushed coral
at
a mix of 1 part concret and 5 or 6 parts of crush coral.

I havn't looked into any other gear to use inplace of the crushed coral
yet.
I guess one day I will. Crushed coral isn't cheap, well not here anyhow.

Howdy,

If you have access to a feed store (farm not pet) you can get crushed oyster
shell for far less money. [For those of you non-4H club folks, crushed
oyster shell is sold as a feed supplement for chickens.] Typical analysis is
in the mid 90% range CaCO3. Use the same 5 to 1 mix. The resulting 'rock'
may be somewhat less porous than you get with crushed coral but that can be
remedied by adding a small amount of broken up pasta to the mix; during the
underwater portion of the curing process the pasta will dissolve leaving a
bunch of tiny channels for better water penetration.

I can't remember where I first heard of the oyster shell alternative but the
pasta idea used to be on the GARF site (maybe it still is).

Frugally yours,

TG

I also read to used rock salt in the mix, I will be trying that next time
too.


"Tidepool Geek" wrote in message
...
"skozzy" wrote in message
...
I have made 1 rock so far. Using the same methods. I went to the
hardware
store and bought a bag of white concret, then mixed it with crushed
coral
at
a mix of 1 part concret and 5 or 6 parts of crush coral.

I havn't looked into any other gear to use inplace of the crushed coral
yet.
I guess one day I will. Crushed coral isn't cheap, well not here anyhow.

Howdy,

If you have access to a feed store (farm not pet) you can get crushed
oyster
shell for far less money. [For those of you non-4H club folks, crushed
oyster shell is sold as a feed supplement for chickens.] Typical analysis
is
in the mid 90% range CaCO3. Use the same 5 to 1 mix. The resulting 'rock'
may be somewhat less porous than you get with crushed coral but that can
be
remedied by adding a small amount of broken up pasta to the mix; during
the
underwater portion of the curing process the pasta will dissolve leaving a
bunch of tiny channels for better water penetration.

I can't remember where I first heard of the oyster shell alternative but
the
pasta idea used to be on the GARF site (maybe it still is).

Frugally yours,

TG

I have read elsewhere that salt can inhibit the concrete curing process...

"skozzy" wrote in message
...
I also read to used rock salt in the mix, I will be trying that next time
too.


"Tidepool Geek" wrote in message
...
"skozzy" wrote in message
...
I have made 1 rock so far. Using the same methods. I went to the
hardware
store and bought a bag of white concret, then mixed it with crushed
coral
at
a mix of 1 part concret and 5 or 6 parts of crush coral.

I havn't looked into any other gear to use inplace of the crushed
coral
yet.
I guess one day I will. Crushed coral isn't cheap, well not here
anyhow.

Howdy,

If you have access to a feed store (farm not pet) you can get crushed
oyster
shell for far less money. [For those of you non-4H club folks, crushed
oyster shell is sold as a feed supplement for chickens.] Typical
analysis
is
in the mid 90% range CaCO3. Use the same 5 to 1 mix. The resulting
'rock'
may be somewhat less porous than you get with crushed coral but that can
be
remedied by adding a small amount of broken up pasta to the mix; during
the
underwater portion of the curing process the pasta will dissolve leaving
a
bunch of tiny channels for better water penetration.

I can't remember where I first heard of the oyster shell alternative but
the
pasta idea used to be on the GARF site (maybe it still is).

Frugally yours,

TG

Do you be curing as in setting hard or the time it takes for the alkaline to
dissipate ?.

I was going to use it so after the rock had set and you put it in water the
salt washes away and leaves the rock with many small holes, good places for
little creatures to hide.


"CheezWiz" wrote in message
...
I have read elsewhere that salt can inhibit the concrete curing process...

"skozzy" wrote in message
...
I also read to used rock salt in the mix, I will be trying that next
time
too.


"Tidepool Geek" wrote in message
...
"skozzy" wrote in message
...
I have made 1 rock so far. Using the same methods. I went to the
hardware
store and bought a bag of white concret, then mixed it with crushed
coral
at
a mix of 1 part concret and 5 or 6 parts of crush coral.

I havn't looked into any other gear to use inplace of the crushed
coral
yet.
I guess one day I will. Crushed coral isn't cheap, well not here
anyhow.

Howdy,

If you have access to a feed store (farm not pet) you can get crushed
oyster
shell for far less money. [For those of you non-4H club folks, crushed
oyster shell is sold as a feed supplement for chickens.] Typical
analysis
is
in the mid 90% range CaCO3. Use the same 5 to 1 mix. The resulting
'rock'
may be somewhat less porous than you get with crushed coral but that
can
be
remedied by adding a small amount of broken up pasta to the mix;
during
the
underwater portion of the curing process the pasta will dissolve
leaving
a
bunch of tiny channels for better water penetration.

I can't remember where I first heard of the oyster shell alternative
but
the
pasta idea used to be on the GARF site (maybe it still is).

Frugally yours,

TG

"Tidepool Geek" writes:
I can't remember where I first heard of the oyster shell alternative but the
pasta idea used to be on the GARF site (maybe it still is).

I made some rock years ago with oyster shell, coral sand, and portland (not
riverside white) cement. i always seemed to have structure
problems with my rocks... most seemed too soft to me.

I've had some "curing" under water for about 5 years (made the rock,
moved while still curing, had fire in bedroom in new place...which
destroyed tank-- so the rocks sat soaking in several buckets for a
couple years.)

I've just recently started a new system..... it's a couple months old.
not much in the way of animal life... large brittle star, several
snails, couple mushrooms (only one species), couple tiny stars,
several hermits, opaeula shrimp, and a peppermint (had to get rid of
the aiptasia). I recently notices some rather large "scud-like"
shrimp... scared the begeezus out of me (light were out for several
hours, and once i repaired the circuit, i saw them...guess they
usually hide). When i put a piece in there, the mushrooms clamped up
for several days.... i think i took that piece out. I'll have to see
if i have any pieces in there now. if not, perhaps i'll try to put
some in again.

As for the salts... you might be able to use rock calcium chloride in
the mix. IIRC, it's added to cement mixes for winter pouring to help
them cure... so it might not hurt the cure.

I've been thinking about trying to find some of those packing peanuts
that dissolve to throw into the mix. Perhaps mini marshmallows would
work.

--
be safe.
flip
Ich habe keine Ahnung was das bedeutet, oder vielleicht doch?
Remove origin of the word spam from address to reply (leave "+")

Does this qualify as becoming live?
http://showcase.netins.net/web/reefp...ures/imga.html
Most of my website revolves around making one's own rock so feel free to
look around. I know it needs a major overhaul, more new pictures, etc., but
I haven't the time currently. I have been known to send out samples (I
don't sell it) as well if your interested.

I haven't ordered from Garf so cannot comment. Making your own instead of
buying it from them seems the cheaper way to go. Depending on what your end
goal is you may want to look at Hirocks ( http://www.hirocks.com ) also.
They didn't have such low priced base rock when I started. So making ones
own was the cheapest way to go and that's where I went.
--
--

My Web Site: http://showcase.netins.net/web/reefpage/



"John Smith" wrote in message
news:YiTvc.15589$aM1.1471@fed1read02...
anyone try this stuff? The shapes look awesome and if it does indeed take
to becoming live when seeded, it'd make a nice base (from the pics anyhow)

I've never ordered from them but am considering it, just looking for
feedback, good or bad.

Thanks

Hi Ben,

Nice picture of your rock. How's your reef and your site progressing?

Marc


Benjamin wrote:

Does this qualify as becoming live?
http://showcase.netins.net/web/reefp...ures/imga.html
Most of my website revolves around making one's own rock so feel free to
look around. I know it needs a major overhaul, more new pictures, etc., but
I haven't the time currently. I have been known to send out samples (I
don't sell it) as well if your interested.

I haven't ordered from Garf so cannot comment. Making your own instead of
buying it from them seems the cheaper way to go. Depending on what your end
goal is you may want to look at Hirocks ( http://www.hirocks.com ) also.
They didn't have such low priced base rock when I started. So making ones
own was the cheapest way to go and that's where I went.
--
--

My Web Site: http://showcase.netins.net/web/reefpage/

"John Smith" wrote in message
news:YiTvc.15589$aM1.1471@fed1read02...
anyone try this stuff? The shapes look awesome and if it does indeed take
to becoming live when seeded, it'd make a nice base (from the pics anyhow)

I've never ordered from them but am considering it, just looking for
feedback, good or bad.

Thanks



--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com