Aquascaping cement/ PVC Stands

[KAN]

Hi guys. Ok let me start off by telling you what I'm thinking on doing. Well my tank is only been set up for a month now and everyone has been telling me to get the rock off the sand more. And thought that using pvc to raise it up was good. But didn't have nothen flat to put on top of the pvc, to pile the rock on. So I tried to just stack the rock on top of the pvc and it was hard to get it to stay on it. Some did but I don't think it was to good to do it that way.
so I was thinking on why don't I just mix up some of that cement stuff make my pades that I need to put on top of the pvc and kinda put the pvc in the cement, so that the stands would hold on to the pvc good.

Now what would I need to mix up this cement and were could I get it?
O and one more thing do you know of any good way to say glue the rock together? or should I just drill it and find a way to hold them together?

[Amphibious]

You can make your own flat rocks but, I wouldn't try to cement the PVC into the rock. It would be very difficult to set them all at the same height. Your tables may not be stable in the aquarium. I would get a bag of cement, some Aragonite sand, a styrofoam box (fish box from LFS) fill it 3/4's of the way up with Aragonite sand, dampen it, make a shallow depression in the sand the shape you desire for a flat rock. Mix up the cement add aragonite sand to the mix (about 50/50) and gently pour into your depression. Let it set, take it out, make new depression a different shape and pour another. This mixture is called Aragocrete and more about this method can be found on GARF at this link - REEF AQUARIUM FARMING NEWS 5 p 1 (http://www.garf.org/news5p1.html#mold)

This article is about making LR but, you will easily see how to do flat rocks.

Hope this helps.

Dick

[KAN]

Thanks Amphibious. I could seem to remember what it was called and couldn't seem to find anything on it .

[KAN]

Thanks that link is just what I was looking for.

[nay,kid]

I drilled holes in my rock and used acrylic rods to mount them together. You could stick the rods into the PVC to keep it up. Also acrylic rods are quite cheap.

[KAN]

well I'll post this here since Amphibious don't know. Now I have been looking around on line for #3 Portland cement and all I seem to find is #2. So dose it mater if I get 3 or 2? Well I'm going out in the morning to get the stuff so If I find 3. Then that what I'll get.

[Amphibious]

Like I said in my reply to your PM, try HD for cement thay may have #3. I've never used cement to make rock so don't know the difference between #2 and #3. When you find it report back here so others can benefit from your experience.

Dick

[KAN]

Ok here I found it. Wow this site need to redo their whole site, so people can find stuff.MAKING LIVE ROCK FOR FUN AND PROFIT (http://www.athiel.com/lib10/rockmaking.htm)
Just to find it I had to do a google seach.

[KAN]

I did a little research this morning and found out that #1 Portland cement is just about the same a #3. That #2 is used for when there is sulfur, cause it will hold up better to it then the others. The only thing different about #3 from #1 is #3 is ground allot finer, drys allot harder. But there just about the same and if you check the link out above they say that #1, and #2 are just as good as #3 just mix it more dryer.

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm not going to do it now. Cause when I went to LFS, they just got some new rock in this month. So they had some nice pieces of shelf rock for $2 lb. So I got a couple of nice big ones. But when I got to do a bigger tank I going to make a nice big cave in it so I will be doing this some time. So I might get some of that sand Amphibious. I just wish they had a nice piece of base rock all there rock was small.

[Amphibious]

Hey, thanks for the report on cement, Keith. When you price out Aragonite sand check my site here - Aragonite Sand (http://www.theculturedreef.com/aragonite.htm) That price includes shipping.


Thanks again.

Dick

[Skurvey Dog]

Kan, if you did in the future decide to make your own LR with that concrete/sand mix... don't forget that that stuff has a very long time to cure before it can be safely used in a system. Glad you found the shelf rock and things are looking up. :up: