Concrete rocks

Joe Fish

Superstar Fish
Apr 21, 2006
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Penn State
josy.isa-geek.com
#1
I have been thinking about setting up my 10 gallon and I was wondering if I can just use pieces of concrete rocks that I have as live rock. I know I would have to clean them first and I would have to seed them somehow, but what all is needed? Could I use bleach to clean them? Or just boil them in water? Any other info?
 

CoolWaters

Superstar Fish
Dec 10, 2006
1,028
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Milpitas
#5
i got a clay pot saucer to grow coral line algae. so im guessing concrete will be fine. i recommend u sanding down the edges and corners because they can be razer sharp.

i was planning to do this to save some money but my since my tank is only 10g didnt want to go through the trouble...

u might want to "seed" the concrete with already established live rock with coral line.

tell us how it turns out.
 

Lorna

Elite Fish
Mar 3, 2005
3,082
4
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NE Indiana
#8
I agree with camaro......beside the fact of the chemical process in making concrete usually uses silca sand and other things that may leach out later. Though I know people make their own rock, just check in the diy forums....Though if it were me I would buy some cheap base rock......
 

Joe Fish

Superstar Fish
Apr 21, 2006
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Penn State
josy.isa-geek.com
#9
I agree, but I think I'm going to give it a shot. I have been reading about other people doing this and I had some left over concrete I mixed up so I thought, what the heck. I'm not going to put a fish in there until I know it's fine. I think it would take a good 6 months to seed from my main tank anyway, right?
 

CoolWaters

Superstar Fish
Dec 10, 2006
1,028
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Milpitas
#12
Sure, glass is made of silica sand, but it isn't going to dissolve/leech into the water at the rate which concrete might.
yeah the statistics was like .01% every 17 years...well something like that. but were doing like 25% water changes every 14 days or so...silica does dissolve easily just get natrual concrete and your good. do a silica test or something. :confused:

the DIY live rocks was like portland cement mixed with CaribSea Aragonite sand.
do think theres silica in that or not as much as regular concrete.
 

TheFool

Large Fish
Apr 19, 2006
323
2
0
#14
Strage,confused arguments. Don't confuse silica ,which your tank is made from, with silicate minerals that are common components of many rocks, and not very stable in seawater. If silica dissolved easily, the market for glass tanks would be pretty small...... Clean beach sands can often be nearly 100% silica, and are perfectly fine for aquaria, they aren't going to dissolve.

Seeing as portland cement doesn't contain silica, and neither does aragonite sand, by definition, I doubt concrete made of such will contian any either. Even if it did, it wouldn't dissolve anyway.

Back to Joes question, I would think you might be safe with most concretes, though you can never be sure, and they are certainly porous and permeable enough (more than most live rock I think). But do you want to go there? You're goign to have to soak them for a few weeks to make sure they don't drive up pH too high, plus they'll look ugly, plus they come with no living matter, and a principle reason for using liverock is the biodiversity it brings. I's not single species of bacteria that do any single part of the nitrogen cycle, plus the species are generally not well known (just guessed), plus you don't get hitchikers on concrete. So you have to seed the rock anyway, and end up with at best second hand, second rate biodiversity. I wouldn't - for such a small tank jsut get the best LR you can.
 

Joe Fish

Superstar Fish
Apr 21, 2006
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Penn State
josy.isa-geek.com
#15
The hole reason of this is a, I'm bored project, and what to see what happens. Also, I'm still unemployed so my wife won't let me get the good rocks. Otherwise I would by base rock or tonga. I want to upgrade to a 75 or 90, but I need a job first. This is something to ease my cravings until I can get a job. The rocks don't really look all that bad. I'll try to get a pic today of how I'm going to set them up.

I'm going to put some biomedia in my display for a month or two then move it over to the 10. I'm sure you are right and I'll end up with many algae blooms.
 

Joe Fish

Superstar Fish
Apr 21, 2006
2,126
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Penn State
josy.isa-geek.com
#20
It is actually quite porus, not like fiji, but not bad. This was just left over in and was never mixed really well. You can't really see it with the flash, but I think it might work. I'm going to use some of my display water when I do my next water change and I have some biomedia in my fuge now. This should hopefully limit a cycle.