John, if its small enough, you can put it in the toilet (not the bowl part, water tank part) for a while so that it’ll do water change every time you flush.
[quote=“reefman66, post:21, topic:5510”]
John, if its small enough, you can put it in the toilet (not the bowl part, water tank part) for a while so that it’ll do water change every time you flush.[/quote]
IDEA< great idea A :
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It’ll fit for sure, i’m gonna soak it overnight in a bucket and test that water tmmrw. I’ll give it the tidy bowl treatment if anything shows up in the results…
it’ll get many fresh water changes in this house :FLUSH)
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Cool man, curious to see what you come up with for Ph. Might wanna let it soak for a few days and test before dropping it in. Great idea with the magnet!
Putting it in the toilet tank should work great, as long as you have no chlorine, or other nasty stuff in that water.
Ph of the soak water after two days is through the roof…
I’m going to give it the toilet tank soak, but do you think a really low ph soak in vinegar may speed it up?
here’s some pics… it measures 6 1/2’’ x 3 1/2’’
the tan-ish colored parts are pieces of rubble rock i added…
the black showing is part of a heater holder that the magnets are attached to. they were used instead of suction cups on an old heater… i figured leave it, it would reinforce the rock…
the craters left after the salts dissolve look really cool…
it looks crooked, but it sits completely flat up against the glass.
i can’t wait til its ready to go in!
That’s the only hassle sofar, the Ph. Rock looks great, if there was anything I would suggest is to try and use a little less water next time so the rock appears more porous and less solid? Again, it looks fantastic as is.
Thanks rob, i agree it would be better if i used less water. It just wasn’t flowing around my magnet mount and i wanted a nice flat side for the glass, so i added some water, and it ended up toooo wet. seems like one of those practice makes better rock deals for sure…
I’d like to try it again and use some coarse kosher salt in there too, to make it even more porous… but there’s a fine line between porous and brittle…
i’ll play more with it outside; in the spring, i made a royal mess in the kitchen doing just this little rock #@$^
trust me though, this rock will look amazing when its covered with coral ::
John it looks really good it would def be a awesome frag rack.maybe u should make more
No, the vinegar will just erode the carbonates in the green cement and aggragate. it takes time. the concrete takes 30-60 days to reach a reasonbly complete chemical reaction, and gaining near full strength. so the concrete curing process needs to complete and the PH will drop with rinsing.
Its why in construction we did concrete break tests on a batch we poured in a big wall. take sample cyclinders and crush one of them each week to test the increase of strength over time. and the completion of the chemical concrete reaction.
it’s normal.
and it’s all about time.
Oh, The Hoover Dam concrete is still curing and getting stronger. Too!
Thanks Joe ::
and ken, does it matter, or better/ worse to cure it in water or air?
concrete needs a little water to complete its hydration. but in small chunks, it shouldn’t matter. I would let it cure in air, with a spritz of watter now and then for a few weeks, then put it in some water until you lose the PH boost.
I forgot to update that i put my rock in my tank last week. I had it sitting in my standby SW w/c trash can (with about 15g in it) for a couple weeks. the ph finally dropped below 8, around 7.8 - 7.9 according to the api kit…
That didn’t take as long as i thought it would… because it would absolutely send the test kit off the chart in the high range every time i checked it previously GolfC
Glad to hear man! Guessing the magnet mounts worked out ok for ya?
I’ve been lazy. I have mine sitting in a 20gal cooler and I can’t remember the last time I changed the water. 
magnets hold good!
and i kinda took kens advice a bit… i pulled it out a couple times and let it air dry overnight…then tossed it back in the water…
maybe do a lazy mans compromise, and just pull the plug on the cooler :
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I figured A would be proud. Rock has been in the “Tank” for 2 weeks. Soaking now to see what the pH does. Added rock #3 and #4 to the tank also.
Nice Rob. I am proud! :: let us know how it turns out.
1st of the DIY rocks are starting to hit the main tank. (I finally got them cycling in a 40 breeder with a powerhead, carbon, and a heater)
pH was a perfect 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20
Didn’t test Phosphate but will soon.
So far so good.
Nice looking rock. hard to tell its man made.
Nice Rob. Would like to see the pic of the rock scape once you’re done.
DIY rock, after setting up a system to cycle the lime/pH out of it, cured up pretty quick. I have 8 pieces of DIY rock in this new shelf structure that I just built into the tank.
I’ll update if there are any disasters.
John, how did your magnetic DIY rock work out? Did it stay in one piece, and do you still use it?
The rock looks really good amongst the “real” rock. What makes it stand out the most is the simple fact that its cleaner.
