Agronite LR

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poakley723

poakley723

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Dec 12, 2007
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166
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Everett
Anyone interested in working on making some Personlize LR of argonite and portland Cement. I have been preparing and looking around at some different webstes which make these. It doen't seem hard. If nothing else maybe someone has some experiance making these. Any sugestions or experiances would be awesome.

Thanks
Nick
 
I made my own rock years ago. it turned out well but the downfall is the curing time. It took me about 8 months until the pH dropped to acceptable levels. This with me changing all the water the rock was curing in DAILY. It can be done but.............patience! HTH
 
You can cure the rock much more quickly than that with adequate water turnover. If your rocks aren't too large, just put them (after the concrete has set for a day) in the tank of your toilet. Multiple water-changes every day! Should be adequately cured in a month.
 
I was thinking of making a large piece or maybe 2 for my tank. And they maybe even curing them in my tank but i am not sure if that would have any effect on the tank. Its a 125g tank so they definatly won't fit in my toilet but i have heard of people doing that.
 
What is happening is that portland cement contains calcium oxide. Most of it reacts as part of the cement-water reaction, but there is some excess calcium oxide in the cement.

If you don't want to change the curing water a lot, put the new rock in a garbage can of water, and add an airstone or two. The airstone will provide CO2, which will react with the calcium leaching out of the concrete, converting it to calcium carbonate. Throw a pH probe in, and watch until the pH value stabilizes.
 
poakley723 said:
Anyone interested in working on making some Personlize LR of argonite and portland Cement. I have been preparing and looking around at some different webstes which make these. It doen't seem hard. If nothing else maybe someone has some experiance making these. Any sugestions or experiances would be awesome.

Thanks
Nick
Click to expand...

I have made my own rock, but it is still curing. I used crushed oyster shell as my aggregate just becasue it was readily avaialbe and cheap ($.30/lb at feed stores). I mixed 3 parts crushed oyster sells to 1 part portland cement. I have not tested the pH yet of the water to see if it is ready. I like the idea of using an airstone to speed up the process.
 
Something to keep in mind is that the pH of a freshwater solution with even small amounts of disolved calcium oxide (calcium hydroxide) can be quite high (around 12). The pH of a saltwarter solution with excess calcium oxide is quite a bit lower - the highest I remember is in the low 9's.

It is easiest to use a pH meter (with the airstone approach), and then watch the pH value level out. Then you aren't getting much more calcium coming out of the concrete
 
Do you think it would speed up the curing if you were to put acid in the water to neutralize the alkalinity?

Also, for the sculptured pieces I have experimented using fiber in the concrete to help hold everything together and it really helps (I used an old nylon shirt ripped up). Anyone have any ideas where I could find plastic fiber for cheap to add to my mix?
 
Last edited:
Acid would be too dificult to control/dose correctly. And acid will eat-up the concrete.
 
I have been brainstorming all day. A while back I saw a tank that had live rock made into pillers by drilling holes in them and using acrylic rods and kind of stacking the rock. I think i may try and make some pillers with some PVC and maybe make some boxes to fill with argonite instead of using a flat tub. This would also make the whole structure much more stable and give some extra suport to them.

Travis where did you get the crushed oyster shells?
 
poakley723 said:
Travis where did you get the crushed oyster shells?
Click to expand...

I live in Whatcom Country and you can get them at basically any farm supply store, people feed them to chickens for calcium for the egg shells. Specifically I got them from a Feed store in Everson. I would think any farm supply store / animal feed store would have them. Or you can also find huge piles of uncrushed oyster shells near oyster farms and crush them yourself with a sledge hammer. Also, I have found that many of the beaches around Bellingham have areas of sand that is mainly composed of white crushed shells. Looks pretty well the same as crushed coral. I have used this too and actually like it better than the crushed oyster shells,
 
OOOOOOO this is exciting! How long have you had your rocks in the water for? Thats the only thing that is getting me worried. I don't want it to take me until NEXT YEAR to get my rock ready to go in. Well i guess next year wouldn't be bad if it was the very begining of january!
 
poakley723 said:
OOOOOOO this is exciting! How long have you had your rocks in the water for? Thats the only thing that is getting me worried. I don't want it to take me until NEXT YEAR to get my rock ready to go in. Well i guess next year wouldn't be bad if it was the very begining of january!
Click to expand...

I have my rocks soaking for just over 1 month. I actually have not done that many water changes, the rain has helped. If it is small enough to fit in the tolliet tank then that is the way to go. Also, I have read that some people will go stick their rock in a safe spot in the ocean, lake or stream which would give unlimited water changes. I would just hate to lose it or have a storm smash it up.
 
I made my first three pieces of rock last night!!!

First rock was 3 parts Oyster shell, 1 part cement and 1 part salt!
Kind of looked like a no bake oatmeal cookie!

Second rock was 1 part oyster shell, 1part cement, 1 part salt!
Looked a lot like some fiji!
Probably the mix i am going to go with.

Last rock was 4 parts cement, 1 part oyster shell and 1 part salt
This rock ummm yeah NOT SO MUCH!

I will post some picture tomorrow when i get home!
 
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