diy rock cave journal

[aglarond]

Step One: Find some rock. It could be from an aquarium store, it could be from a garden center, or it could from where they blasted nearby my house to put in a gas pipeline.

Step Two: Barbecue the rock. They autoclave laboratory equipment at 121 degrees Celsius under pressure for fifteen minutes to sterilize it. I don't have an autoclave so half an hour at 250 degrees Celsius ought to do.



Step Three: Bleach the rock, scrub the rock, then soak the rock for a couple of days. Even though the blasting happened over 10 years ago, and the rock has been weathered all this time, there might still be dangerous chemicals clinging to it.



Step Four: Find a hammer...



Step Five:

Use said hammer. Smash the rocks into smallish pieces. Don't worry about sharp edges, they will be smoothed down in a later step. Wear safety goggles so no rock shards fly into your eyes.



To be continued...

 

[AnDr3w]

Good start!

 

[247Plants]

Nice....more!

 

[Fordtrannyman]

Is that Limestone?

 

[aglarond]

Is that Limestone?

Step Six: Make sure the stone you found isn't limestone. Limestone will leach, raising the pH, alkalinity, and hardness of the water in your aquarium.

To test this add a piece of the rock to some vinegar or another acidic solution. If the rock is limestone it will bubble; the acid and the limestone will react to release carbon dioxide. Bubbles don't always appear so listen closely, if you hear little popping sounds it means the same thing. If the rock is inert the only thing that will happen is that you will look like an idiot.



It isn't limestone, but it might be uranium for all I know.

 

[PsyKick]

It isn't limestone, but it might be uranium for all I know.

so this is a DIY for making a...."cave" ?

 

[luckydud13]

What wuld be the ideal rock to use?

 

[Fordtrannyman]

It isn't limestone, but it might be uranium for all I know.

Good one

Kryptonite would cool!