garf aragocrete question

"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

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

I should have said:

Do you mean curing .....

Yes,

Mixing salt in while the concrete is wet, which is the whole point of adding
a dissolving medium, supposedly upsets the chemical reaction that allows the
cement to harden properly. I would suggest you continue reading the GARF
pages for info. I am not sure where I read that one either....


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

I should have said:

Do you mean curing .....

Mixing salt in while the concrete is wet, which is the whole point of
adding
a dissolving medium, supposedly upsets the chemical reaction that allows
the
cement to harden properly. I would suggest you continue reading the GARF
pages for info. I am not sure where I read that one either....

Thanks for the heads up.

When my dad had his driveway poured in the 1980s, I watched with fascination.
They spread the concrete, and let it begin to cure. Then they smoothed it
beautifully.

Suddenly this guy started throwing little diamonds all over the concrete, and
another guy worked his way onto the concrete to press in the little pieces and
smooth the driveway again. Tursn out the diamonds were rock salt.

Two days later, my dad was told to rinse the driveway with a garden hose,
melting away all salt, leaving these unique-shaped small cavities all over the
surface. It was really neat.

I would imagine the same coud be done in aragocrete, after it had set up for a
couple of hours or more. It would add some character to an otherwise boring
blob of concrete. I have no idea if it would be okay, but adding pink concrete
coloring to the concrete would be even nicer, in anticipation of coralline
growth.

Marc

CheezWiz wrote:

Yes,

Mixing salt in while the concrete is wet, which is the whole point of adding
a dissolving medium, supposedly upsets the chemical reaction that allows the
cement to harden properly. I would suggest you continue reading the GARF
pages for info. I am not sure where I read that one either....

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

I should have said:

Do you mean curing .....



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"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
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