Briareus hotel build

[Inkman]

Free for now hes payin rent by helping haha

 

[Inkman]

 

[Inkman]

Almost ready to come inside lol needs alittle more shellack and doors built but got a lot done this weekend plus built a stand for my neighbors bearded dragon lol I'm getting work building stands already lol

 

[DWhatley]

Now, if you could just get paid for them, it would help offset your hobby

 

[Inkman]

Haha ya definatly

 

[Inkman]

Ahhh long week back to build gunna build doors and rest of trim hopefully this weekend. Got a couple pieces of live rock done too I'll get some pics up soon the first try ended up a failure but still usable pieces. Even so can go in sump if not to my liking.

 

[Inkman]

 

[DWhatley]

Please describe how you are making your live rock and how you end up tweaking it (unless the formula is a secret )

 

[Inkman]

A few of my roman columns they broke on first try but will still look good I think if anyone wants to kno how to make these look up DIY live rock on YouTube and look for devin Martin that is how I got the idea his looks nicer because he uses white Portland cement and I couldn't get any without buying a whole pallet lol but I think it will work better because it won't brighten tank as much as the white would

 

[Inkman]

I use 2 parts Portland cement 2 parts rock salt (99.6% pure salt) 2 parts crushed oyster shell and 2 parts all purpose sand. For columns for stability the blocks I will b making will b different but not sure how I wanna make them yet

 

[Inkman]

Make sure u add salt last so it's not melting while you mix it all up I suggest making in small increments because it gets hard to mix it up quick if you have a lot. To make the breaks in them like I'm doing just add some rock salt to one side and put mixture overtop. Mix it all up to about the texture of oatmeal any wetter and you'll get a solid block any dryer and you'll have crumbles lol.

 

[Inkman]

You will have a mess so best to do on some plastic or something and let set for 24hrs before opening your new present haha

 

[DWhatley]

I found Devin Martin's video showing construction of the columns. He continues the videos in a series to show how it does over a two year period. He mentions that he lost the first 6 fish, did a water change and then started having success. I suspect the rock did not age outside long enough (he mentions hearing bubbles) to let it fully out gas and you might consider doubling the curing time.

 

[Inkman]

Yep I was figuring on doing that anyway im also gunna put a piece of lr in wile curing to see what happens I was gunna cure for about 3 or 4 months because the columns are pretty solid for strength

 

[Inkman]

He get some great coraline algae on them tho for some reason I have never had any sort of algae till about a month ago. I had a hair algae outbreak but I built a diy agae scrubber for that and seems to b working good lol