MAKING LIVE ROCK FOR FUN AND PROFIT - The Aragocrete^TM and Super glue Reef Aquarium method

Making sand molded Aragocrete^TM live rocks

MATERIALS:

TOOLS:

Styrofoam fish shipping boxes
Shovel
Plastic buckets
spoons

THIS LIVE ROCK WAS MOLDED FROM ARAGOCRETE^TM
AND THE ZOANTHIDS, PALYTHOA AND MUSHROOMS
WERE ATTACHED USING THE METHODS WE TEACH

MATERIALS:

Carib Sea^TM aragonite sand.
#3 portland cement

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix 6 parts Carib Sea^TM aragonite sand with 1 part portland cement.
Let the aragocrete^TM set for 24 hours before you take rocks out.
Soak the rocks in hot white vinegar for 12 hours and rinse them in fresh water before you use them.

MAKING LIVE ROCKS:

We use styrofoam boxes for making our molds, because all of the finished live rocks will eventually be shipped in styrofoam boxes. We have noticed that the students tend to make the live rocks bigger and bigger if they have a chance.

Styrofoam boxes also hold the heat that is generated as the concrete cures. It is best to keep these boxes at room temperature so that the hardened rocks can be removed in 24 hours. After the rocks are removed from the beach boxes the excess aragonite is brushed off and saved.

The rocks are then placed under water for several days to continue curing. Cement becomes strongest when it is allowed to dry slowly. If the rocks are shipped before they are allowed to cure we experience a lot of breakage.

We have been mixing our batches of concrete in a regular size wheelbarrow and we vary the mixture of aragonite and CarbiSea Aruba shells so that our live rocks all look different. You can add many differnet types of CaribSea gravel to your aragocrete mixture.

We always mix the aragocrete with clean fresh water. When you are mixing the water and aragonite gravel try to get the mixture as dry as possible, while still getting it wet enough to hold together when you squeeze a hand full. The dryer you can make your aragocrete^TM mix the stronger your final product will be.

I will continue to explain how you can produce and market several new types of reef aquarium products. During the first year of the foundations retail market research project I confirmed what I had learned when I owned several marine tropical fish stores. The retail research showed that certain shapes and sizes of live rocks are the most popular. Any live rock that has a large hole in it that fish can swim through will always sell first. Flat long rocks that can be used as ledges are very popular. Live rocks that have interesting shapes and surface textures are always picked out before plain rocks.

This week I need 600 lbs. + of 'TONGA' type branch rock that is light weight and each piece has to be over 16 inches long. I want two to three branches on each one that are six inches long. Each branch will have a hole in one end so I can tie them together before I drop them in the sea.

Last month I needed 600+ lbs. of eight inch long cave rocks with a hole in both ends. These rocks are shaped like hollow eggs and they are now growing coralline algae in several of our systems.

I am planning to have a batch of large, medium, and small arches made out a new mix Aragocrete^TM that is very porous. These arches will be used to make the new 'small footprint reefs' that everyone is going to want. These small footprint reefs can be made so that only twenty percent of the live sand is covered with rock.

This month I am going to answer several questions that we have received. The entire subject of Aragocrete^TM has generated more e-mail from around the world than anything we have shared. I am also going to tell you how I have been able to make the best bioactive live rocks I have ever made.

Aragocrete^TM fillers

The standard Aragocrete^TM mix is one part Portland cement and five parts CaribSea^TM gravel. This basic mix makes very strong and beautiful live rocks. Part of our research here at GARF includes sending Idaho Aragocrete^TM to live rock farmers in Hawaii, Florida, Mexico, and several other places. We will continue to visit these sites and harvest our Idaho rock. We are bringing this rock to Boise for research. We are also purchasing Aquaculture live rock from as many sources as possible. We will compare these types of Aquaculture live rocks and report our findings. We have our students in several areas purchase the live rock and other tanks raised reef products at retail so we can assess the products and services offered.

When we started paying freight on dry rock to places like Koror, Palau I started thinking of ways to make the same rock much lighter.

SOME OF THE THINGS THAT DID NOT WORK TOO WELL:

popcorn - it melts inside of the rock before it forms holes
dogfood - it swells up and breaks the rock
Top Ramen noodles - it costs too much
dirt clods - it makes the Aragocrete^TM weak

SOME OF THE THINGS THAT DO WORK :

Tufa gravel - there are some grades from Nevada that float
Lava ash - some good reef safe purple gravel that floats
Plastic sawdust - coralline loves plastic
Plastic scraps - small spirals are best

The last two plastic products are the most promising because they are available in many countries. I will explain how I am using them to make Aragocrete^TM here at the Live Rock Lab.

DIRECTIONS

The simple way to use the plastic is to replace 1/4 of the Gravel with the plastic. I add the plastic to the Aragocrete^TM just before I pour it into the mold holes. This method leaves much of the plastic on the surface of the live rock for coralline to attach to.

The other method I use is the slurry method. I add the plastic to the mix before I add the gravel. I slowly add the water to mix until the plastic, cement and water form a gray slurry. I then add the gravel until the Aragocrete^TM is ready. This method works best if you need to hide the shape of the plastic scrap. I have one type of plastic that has one inch circles in it.

OUR BEST MIX!

ARAGOCRETE FILLER #1^TM

The best filler I have ever used is made out six parts floating purple lava ash and four parts Lexan drill press spirals.

This filler is mixed into Aragocrete^TM as a replacement for 1/5 of the CaribSea^TM gravel. The way the Plastic is formed into spirals and the way the cells in the Lava hold air makes the the finished Aragocrete^TM about 1/2 as heavy.

QUESTIONS

Can I use type 1-2 portland cement to make Aragocrete^TM?
YES, you can make a very good live rock from #1-2 portland cement - I mix it a bit more and let it dry longer.

Why do you say to soak the Aragocrete^TM in hot vinegar?
The acid in hot vinegar will help reduce the surface Ph. of the rocks. We cure all of our rocks in running water or in the ocean. You can use Muratic acid if you are careful. You can also get some great surface affects with this acid.

How can I make my rocks valuable sooner?

Glue some invertebrates to each rock before you grow the coralline algae. The Zooanthids and soft corals are good ones to be growing while the rock is aging. Sea Mat rock and Green Star rock will sell for more than regular live rock. Two or three types of sps coral heads will add to the value of your rock:)

More next time! the only way to start - is to just start.

Remember PROPAGATE AND EDUCATE.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES - SOME LESSONS IN CURING LACE ROCK

In the beginning I made several batches of rock and placed them in a kids swimming pool in the backyard and changed the water everyday for several weeks and then ASSUMED that the rocks were cured sufficiently to add to my reef tank. I must have spent two hours getting the arches, tunnels and shelves in the right place. I got them in the tank and within an hour there was something very wrong with the inhabitants. They were not swimming or eating , they were gone to the sleeping/hiding places. I quickly pulled the rock out and changed the water as quickly as I could. 90 gallons is a lot of water to change quickly.

The next case of tank crash was about two months later. Again, in my impatience and inexperience I assumed that the rock that I had soaked in vinegar for several days and then changed fresh water on for about two weeks was sufficiently cured. Again I placed about 150 pounds of rock in the tank and within the hour I knew that I had done it once again. I emptied the tank quickly and changed the water. The next day the inhabitants still looked distressed, so I changed the water again. All 95% of a 90 gallon tank. On that day I lost some beautiful fish , a lot of sleep and was physically stiff and sore for quite a while.

Now, in my old age I have learned that Aragocrete and crushed oyster shell rock needs to be completely cured before adding it to a reef tank. I have purchased a pH testing kit and USE it before placing rock in a tank. For me and my higher percentage cement rock perhaps the low slow cure in fresh water is the best.

(The Aragocrete formula is Aragonite to cement at about 5 or 6 to 1. The oyster shell rock that I have been making is about 3 to 4 parts crushed oyster shell to 1 part Riverside white cement.)

Karen, the Rocker

When we make Aragocrete^TM here in Boise we use 6 parts CaribSea aragonite and 1 part Portland cement. We use the CaribSea gravel in the beach boxes and we make certain that all surfaces are covered with aragonite gravel by tapping the box until the rock settles.

ALL OF THIS ARAGOCRETE^TM HAS BEEN CURED IN FRESH GEOTHERMAL WATER

THIS ROCK IS MADE WITH CARIBSEA GRAVEL
SO IT IS MUCH EASIER TO CURE

This picture shows some of the most popular shapes that you can make your AragocreteTM rocks. We make these pieces in three sizes. We will explain how the pieces in this picture can be put together to make a great looking aquaculture reef aquarium. We used these 7 medium sized rocks along with several smaller coralline covered rocks called coralline eggs to start this aquarium. This reef aquarium has a compound plenum made with egg crate light grid and plastic geofabric. The black plastic geofabric forms a loose netting over the plenum that keeps the sand that falls into it loose and protected from being disturbed. You can set up the same type of aquarium using any plenum. We have also set this kind of reef aquarium up using no plenum and live sand.The live sand is made from CaribSea gravel and GARF GrungeTM and they have worked very well. These shapes can be arranged in many ways to give this reef a good open shape. The arches allow us to build the reef so only a few places on the sand are covered with rock.

These shapes have been used in this reef to create many places to glue cuttings. A tank like this is a good place to grow your first brood stock corals. When the reef is first set up we use the compound plenum as an undergravel filter for several months. This reef is still using a slow flow UG filter. The newest reefs that we are doing have a new combination of 1/2 plenum and 1/2 no plenum. The half of the tank that has a plenum can be at one end or in back 1/2 of the tank. The aragonite gravel is thicker over the plenum and it slopes to the glass that is on the other side of the tank. We have learned that different types of bacteria populate the gravel that is over the plenum and the gravel that slopes from 4 inches to 1 inch deep.

When the reef is first set up we use two 40 watt lights - a Triton and a Blue moon work very well. After the Aragocrete gravel and the Grunge is in the tank we add coralline algae that we scrape off of the glass in one of the other reefs. The more coralline that you add at this time the better the growth will be. We turn off the power head for several hours to allow the chips of coralline algae to settle on the rocks. This 55 gallon has two power heads - a Maxi-jet 750 on the UG fiter and a Maxi-jet 1000 in the top corner. The coralline algae has grown best on all of rocks that have the plastic in them. This is the third reef we have set up this semester that has done this. The plastic filled rocks are very porous and the coralline algae is attracted to the plastic. We have been adding some plastic to all of the new rock we are making.

This gif shows the way this reef was put together using the rocks we made and the small coralline covered aquaculture rocks. By using the UG filter and the Grunge we were able to start adding cuttings the next day. After a month we added two more lights and a month later we changed one set of 40 wat lights for a set of VHO bulbs. The reef is now ready to have the next power head and two more VHO bulbs. We are now adding sps coral cuttings. We have already been able to harvest soft coral cuttings for new reefs.

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This close up view of this reef shows some of the coralline that has grown on the rocks. One of the most important things we added to this reef is the 80+ janitors we use to keep the micro algae from taking over. When you are growing tank raised aquaculture rocks it is very important to control unwanted algae. This reef has NO skimmer and we have only changed about 8 gallons of water. During the next few months we will add a skimmer and more pumps. This reef will become a brood stock tank for sps corals. We will post pictures of the reef we call the old man tank during the coming year. The only products we added to this reef are SeaChem's Reef plus, Reef complete, and Reef Calcium. We use Pickeling lime, SeaChem's Reef Builder and Reef Advantage in all of make up water. I am certain that we would not have the success we do if we used any salt other than Instant Ocean.

This cave rock shows how an aquaculture rock looks after it has been in a reef aquarium for 3 months. We put 3 cuttings on this rock when we put it in the reef and they have grown into nice colonies. This type of rock is very popular in the retail market. We are doing a large number of these caves with blue and purple mushrooms. The mushrooms grow inside of the caves. We are certain that any caves with two bright colored mushroom colonies will be very good sellers. If you grow any aquacultured live rocks we would like to publish pictures of them.

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