I got some broken ceramic tiles and smashed them with hammer. I tumbled shards for a couple of days, grit 80. What came out was perfect ceramic media I use them to this day. Maybe 4 years… some I used for pendants as they tumbled into nice shapes. I hope someone find it useful.

@yourrnamee1280

3 ай бұрын

That seems so smart! Also, do you think putting untumbled shards in with the first tumble of rough would kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak!?

@outbackfirefly1154

3 ай бұрын

I am not sure@@yourrnamee1280 But the idea of media is to be smooth enough not to damage your stones. It might work though

@jessmorthiele

Ай бұрын

Thank you! We have lots of leftover ceramic tile when we did our kitchen! What a wonderful idea! Thank you so much for sharing!

@Taxi2TheMoon

28 күн бұрын

That’s amazing. Thank you 🙏🏻

@outbackfirefly1154

28 күн бұрын

@@yourrnamee1280 I don’t know as I didn’t try it. Probably would.

As a fellow Minnesotan, I very much appreciate that your tumbling grit is stored in mint chocolate chip ice cream containers. That's a nice touch. 😉👍

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Haha it’s my husbands favorite!

@jillebeanthe1st

10 ай бұрын

@@AgateAriel I think I'm remembering it backwards: the rest of the world calls that ice cream mint chocolate chip but Minnesotans call it peppermint bon bon. I was thinking it was the other way around. So nevermind my original comment! I'm still proud to see a fellow Minnesotan making great content on KZread, though!

@amythystmoon864

8 ай бұрын

That is the best mint chocolate chip, ice cream brand, I love blue bunny ice cream it is the absolute best! Their cherry chocolate chunk is very close second too

@clannishkobra8965

24 күн бұрын

I thought the same thing as I used to live in Minnesota now living in Colorado. I grew up in Louisiana so I use mason jars to store my grit lol fits the theme.

You should tumble rocks using this as media vs ceramic media to really test if it is a worthy replacement

@trktos

8 ай бұрын

it's fine. i have been using gravel for media for a while. so long as you're not tumbling something a lot softer (which you likely aren't going to do in a rotary without a special process anyway)

@millardwilliams9182

26 күн бұрын

You can keep tumbling with these... And, they tend to help keep a lot of texture within the large rocks you're tumbling... They tend to fill in all open spaces in the tumbler and cushion the larger rocks, so they tend to hold their texture and still polish up nicely!...

there is a few brands of aquarium gravel that have a "colour" vasirty called gem - its all agates, quartz's, and jaspers, i use them instead of pea gravel to top my pond plants. the coating is epoxy resin, its just meant to prevent anything leaching into water that could harm fish or plants (or the bacteria for biological filtration) or causing discolouration to the water (any of the ones with high iron can be bad for giving the tank a rust color over time )

Just wanted to let you know that from watching this one video, I now tumble rocks with the small aquarium rocks, muscle shells, and whatever I want polished... The results are spectacular! However, the larger rocks keep ahold of a lot of their texture, and still end up polished which is exactly what I wanted! The muscle shells don't break or crack very often, and turn out wonderfully as well and can be turned into jewelry as well... Thanks for this video...

Great minds think alike. I've been doing this for a few months now. I clean them well then I use them in every stage. I call them my mini rock collection.😉🙂

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Haha love it!

@okamijubei

Ай бұрын

Or you could use them as beads or jewelry stone.

I kind of want to try and make a wind tumbler. like a windmill that turns the barrel. I could just throw some cool rocks in it and forget about it for a few weeks. It's generally pretty windy where i live so it should work I think.

@aerynventress7702

11 ай бұрын

What a rad idea! I'd be so curious to see the result.

@kareno8634

11 ай бұрын

ROCK n ROLL On with the _WIND_

@macehilmatecilof4140

11 ай бұрын

@@kareno8634 the problem is I probably can't put it in my front yard, because it's going to be loud af. Might have to just put it out in the middle of nowhere or something.

@macehilmatecilof4140

11 ай бұрын

@@aerynventress7702 I will show it to you if I ever get around to doing it.

@kareno8634

11 ай бұрын

@@macehilmatecilof4140 haha What size Rocks? _aaah_ Sounds of Nature, with just a bit of help bringing it to all. 8|} - thing is, i bet it'd work. Cheers!

Oh my goodness so I am new to this rock tumbling world. I have been collecting rocks for over 50 something years and just now decided to start tumbling and I cannot get enough of watching your videos. I have learned so much from you already. Thank you so very much and I look forward to learning a lot more.

Great alternative if a person doesn't have access to beach pebbles. I've done the same with pea-sized beach pebbles and put them straight into the polish stage. End result - STUNNING like yours! Fun video. ROCK ON!!

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Yes it’s so cool! And then you get tumbled beauties in the end!

@CacklingChick

11 ай бұрын

​@@AgateArielRight!

@bobbieker8915

11 ай бұрын

I've been using the beach pebbles also and it looks really beautiful after polishing just like gemstones.

@CacklingChick

10 ай бұрын

​@bobbieker8915 Yes! Beach rocks just thrown in the polish stage are stunning! Great decorations for use around potted plants or just throw in a display bowl to look at or run your fingers through. 😁👍🏻🪨⛏️

@bobbieker8915

10 ай бұрын

@@CacklingChick , thanks, That's what I've been doing with them.

I used to rock tumble as a kid in the 70’s, and now that I’m a retired English teacher, I wanted to go back to the beginner tumbler status. I ran across your videos, and I absolutely love your enthusiasm and helpful hints.

@darrelllemke9201

17 күн бұрын

I also!!

That aquarium gravel substrate has an epoxy coating that makes it inert so no nutrients and minerals leach into the aquarium so if you did this again it would be a great idea to just do step two

You can also get a netted bag of those little gems at Michaels craft store. I also bought a container of black decorative filler from there and am using that instead of ceramic media. Enjoy your videos Ariel!

@577buttfan

15 күн бұрын

Link?

I have children who like to drop dishes...i started using the ceramic ones as media a while back. My son finishes the job by smashing with a hammer. Then in with first stage. Has worked very well. Ssved tons of money.

Just found your channel after a solid year of tumbling. Like you said; literal game changer. I subscribed after seeing your results.

@AgateAriel

9 ай бұрын

Awesome, thank you!

I enjoy your enthusiasm and excitement over your adventures with rocks keep up the great work you do especially for your videos

this is the exact brand i've used! we spend more time looking at the "media" sometimes than the rocks i'm tumbling! i actually do use the jagged, "yucky" ones too - but just in coarse (and they often breaking down, crumble) ... for my later stages (in a vibratory tumbler) i have dedicated batches of the nicer ones for each stage, too, so i don't even have to wash the "media", just the "real" rocks that are moving on!

I've definitely been using a similar idea! I'll sometimes use a mix of pebbles and those soft plastic tile spacers (separate ones per stage) and the reason I'll still pick up itty bitties of certain rocks.... just to add extra for the spaces between 😂👌 its good stuff!

I used driveway gravel. It works well, but you want to tumble it down smooth by itself first. Otherwise it cuts your rocks very aggressively until they smooth. Now if that's what you want, great. So the driveway gravel looks just like aquarium rocks now. I honestly wish I had saved all those months of processing my own gravel and bought a bag of aquarium rocks instead. Right now I'm using a mix of gravel and ceramic. Works pretty well. I haven't tumbled rocks since I was a kid. Back then I didn't know about aggregate. I just filled the barrel with rocks and they were their own aggregate. So it's interesting to learn more in depth. I'm already getting better results than I did as a kid. I never could get that glassy shine, and as I recall it took longer. Best of my memory the kit I had only came with 2 stages, a course and a polish. And you had to leave it tumbling for almost a month or more in between the two states. I'm sure professionals were doing it the same way then that they are now, I just didn't have a Library in my pocket in the 80's. I didn't live in a rock hounding area so there wasn't really anyone to get tips from, and I wasn't super interested in it. I was just a geeky kid who liked stuff like that and model rockets and chemistry sets. But also liked shiny rocks. So now it's fun to try it again with more knowledge and interest.

I used the 1/2 stones from our Japanese garden in lieu of ceramic media for the agate a jasper I brought back from Costa Rica. It went in on step one as fill. The net result was small polished rocks. I like the aquarium stone idea. More gems!

I been doing this for years and people always suggest using more small rocks instead of the ceramic medium. And to be honest they can all be polished with out the grits as well.

@theyellowvanadventures9487

11 ай бұрын

I have lots of chips left from my trimming, but they are sharp, maybe put them as they are from the beginning?

Thanks for the fun experiment! I'll have to keep an eye out for different types of gravel. They'd be great for the rocks I tumble that aren't going into my videos. Plus the pretty stones that come out on the other end will look fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing your idea.

They look good and should do the job for you. I use solid plastic beads... cheap. A different bunch for each grit. That said, yours are spectacular and mine look like plastic beads. Keep moving forward. We love seeing your hunts and tumbled rocks. 😊 😷⚒

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Yes I have tried plastic beads before! I haven’t had as much success with them unfortunately. Thanks for watching!

@sandmaker

11 ай бұрын

@@AgateAriel you do what works for you. Your stones are ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL!☺

Damn Girl, you got me excited and I don't even tumble lol 🎉

Just went to Amazon and put a bag in my wish list. I've had a tumbler for a couple of years for other projects, but even our driveway has some nice-looking rocks that I've picked up since we moved in.

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

That’s awesome!

I live in Nova Scotia and I'll be getting some tiny beach pebbles to use as tumbling media. Thanks for a great idea

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Of course!

They look fantastic 😂 . Well done!❤

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Thank you!!

I'd just started experimenting with this before we moved and I had to take my tumblers down. I hadn't gotten any to the polish stage yet, so I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. I haven't gotten them set back up yet, but I know what I'm going to be using for a test run when I do. These turned out amazingly well. I agree with you... having a bunch of super shiny little gemstones when you get done with a tumble run instead of a bunch of worn down ceramic is a way cooler option. Thank you for sharing this

Thank you so much for this video. I'm going to try this very soon. Think bout the bling i can make too. oh yeh. Love your videos. You 're totally cool.

Im not a fan of plastic tumbler media, but if you are trying to use brocken headlight bits. My neighbors place used to be a repair shop. I thew some acrylic yellow pieces in the tumbler and got some awesome clear specimens.

Love the idea 👍❤️👍 Thank you!! I’m going to try this out for sure.

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Wonderful! I hope it works great for you!

I use local river gravel for my media. Always agates, petwood and Jasper's in the mix ... Towards the end of tumbling I like ceramic media for cushioning my expensive cabs .

Cool experiment. Thanks for the video. Keep up the good work!

You could use those in those little bottle necklaces and earrings.

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Right!!

I go to a beach in michigan and pick up a bucket of small rocks. I use them for fillers

That was such a great idea. Looks like I'll be stopping at the pet store tomorrow for aquarium rock. Thanks

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Awesome!! I hope it works well for you!

Omg that looks amazing

❤ great idea!! Definitely gonna try it thanks!

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Hope you like it!

Wow! Nice job on them! 😊

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Thank you!!

Hi from Finland! Just a great idea 👍 Just ordered my first tumbler and didnt find ceramic media anywhere in Finland. This gonna be tested 👍 and i think these kind of rocks gonna be easy and safe way to get to know tumbler and how its work. Thanks😊👍

The best looking rock that caught my eye was the red heart! Hopefully you got to do something wonderful with it after you shined it up and made it look pretty!

I buy decorative rocks crom home depot and use them as filler for my tumbles and some of my favorite rocks came from the cheap rocks

I use Aquarium stones, they are brilliant.

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Agreed!

Ariel, thanks for the video. Let me tell you what I found. I hand-picked some rocks at the playground where my 10-year-old plays. I wanted to use them in lieu of ceramic media, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good they turned out. What is best is those rocks were totally free. I now have a small bucket of playground gravel on standby when I need them. 🙂

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

That’s a great idea! Yes I was blown away with how they turned out!!

Those look great!

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!

I’ve found bags of small rocks like these at Dollar Tree. Even more of a game changer!

Awesome idea! I'm definitely going to be doing that. Thanks for the idea tho it's genius.

good idea nice rocks 😎

I actually use aquarium filter media. A little cheaper than official "tumbling" media and its essentially the same thing, only different.

That is a really neat idea..think outside the box..LOL and I never remembered what the white pellets were for when I was 10..

Great idea❤

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!! It worked so perfectly!

such a great idea!! 👍

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Thank you! 😊

awesome, that is such a neat ideal. have one for ya. take a look at bird gravel that you can find in the pet store. just an ideal it might be a alternative to other forms of grit. love your videos

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Oh I will have to check it out!!

I'm new to this but I've been using pea gravel and it seems to work pretty good

I have done this it works awesome.

I’m going to tell you the best polishing material that will cut stainless 1/4’’ thick steel in several months and that is dried whole kernel corn I worked at a feed mill for 7 years in maintenance and I’m sure rocks are no problem

Ive tumbled dollar tree rocks they turned out great

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

That’s awesome!!

Very cool! You "ROCK"

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

I just use the tiny rocks I find when I’m rock hounding as ceramic media ( I love tiny things so I have a lot of them)

Wow I wonder what I am going to be buying over the weekend.

Cool!

This is awesome

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Thank you! Glad you liked it!

Rubber tile spacers work great

Omg.. soo doing this! 😮

I’m from Texas. That would be Blue Bell chocolate chip mint!😊

We had an old fish tank and my parents brilliantly (sarcasm) dumped the aquarium gravel in the backyard. However, it had provided me hours of entertainment sorting through it for pretty rocks in the backyard. 😂

Silky and smooth. 😆

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Right! They turned out so amazing!

I've spent weeks, no...months searching out semiprecious stones and gems to use in jewelry making. I got a bag of dusty old rocks from Amazon by ordering the wrong things. I've been wanting to invest in a tumbler, and now I've got a darn good reason to do so. I want to know how my dusty old rocks will look if I do what you did. Hmmmm. 😊

Thanks!

@AgateAriel

8 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for the super thanks! 😊🙌

That’s fun!

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

It really was!!

For a fast fwd sound effect look for a rewind effect and play it backwards 🤓

I use these. And they looks pretty when I'm done. Most get clear

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

That’s awesome! I can’t wait to use them in future projects!

Love it

nice tumbled rocks

I was just advised by another tumbler to use pea gravel, so I'm sure you are onto something, the stuff left over at the bottom is left over epoxy or lacquer from coating the aquarium rocks

Cool video. Since you may be using those in different grits depending on what stage you are doing, you'll need to separate the ones by what grit you are using. That's definitely cheaper than ceramic media.

Woooww superb idea thank you very much... on the other hand one question, in my area I can no longer find borax :/ what to replace? THANKS

Good video!

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much!

You could pan those. The heaviest hardest rocks will end up in the bottom.

I think the music. You were looking for was March of the bumblebees. And I also think it's in the public. Domain, but you'll have to Check that

Steal broken china plates from the trash, is literally the exact same material, no matter if it's sharp doesn't affect the final product since it gets all blended and pulverized

Have you thought about pea gravel? You can get 1/2 cubic ft of it from Menards for less than $5. They don’t have that waxy coating and one could tumble to make smooth. I’m going to try it and see once I can afford to get 4 grits.

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

I have thought about that before! The pea gravel that I have seen has a lot of basalt in it though which doesn’t tumble well and I was afraid it would carry to much grit through each stage. But maybe I should look harder for pea gravel that doesn’t have basalt because you’re right, that would be even cheaper!

@jwchovan

11 ай бұрын

@@AgateAriel I’ve even tried for the first stage the black blast from Menards as my first stage of tumbling. It seems to do quite well and it’s less than $10 a 50lb bag. I’m checking my tumblers either tonight or tomorrow to see the progress. I can tag you if you’d like to see the results. Unfortunately, I didn’t record the before. Darn it

Hi! Great video! Ty!! Have the same ultrasound as you. I did not know you can put things directly in without the basket?

@Sephro

2 ай бұрын

I have a different model and it says doing so voids the warranty... plus I've read they clean much better if the liquid can move around under. When I have tiny stuff, I put it in cheap strainers or scrap window screen.

I will try that😊

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Hope you enjoy!

howdy partner hope u have a hppy rock Tumbling week~!⛏

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!! You too!!

Amazing that we can use aquarium media. Yay!!! Nice job. Can you please give me YOUR tumbling recipe for cycle 3 & 4? I see you use Borax. Interesting and look at your rocks. Thank you

i want to get back into rock tumbling sooo bad omg

I see someone shares my idea of using agates for fish tanks 😎

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Right! It’s the perfect idea! Fish and cool rocks?!

You may be able to find a bigger bag at Home Depot or Lowes even cheaper.

Watching this at 144p on my phone that aquarium stone looks like a bag of mixed Jelly Belly Beans! Next experiment? Lol. Maybe for April Fools day!

Been using strictly aquarium rocks to tumble some coins lately. As soon as I learned about them, I went straight to Walmart. Lol Might make a video soon. Definitely not as good as yours! Great vids! 👍

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Yes you definitely should!!

amazing .. keep thinking aquariums will look far more interesting. or fill a treasure box for a treasure hunt for a Bday party?

I'm guessing it's some kind of plastic or polymer coating on those aquarium rocks. They do it to ensure the rocks don't alter the water chemistry. A lot of the fun colored gravel has a polymer coating with some kind of dye

A lot of my rocks are that size already! I'd get them mixed up 😅😅 but if I have a lot of little ones, do I need the ceramic pieces? I figure all the tiny rocks will cushion the big rocks

Yep, I quit buying ceramic media as well. I've got lots of small chips and chunks of agate and jasper, might as well use them.

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

Right absolutely!

Newbie question: Do you switch out media you're using at each grit stage? Or simply rinse and add the next level of grit with your rocks and the media used at the previous stage? Thank you!

@janetlarae1980

5 ай бұрын

Good question! I need more details on all the steps and cleaning in between and all that as well. 😊

I loved that, always thinking of alternatives like that ,how about talcum powder, salt, sugar etc.? definitely headed to the pet shop tomorrow, thanks.

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Oh that may be fun to try!!

@lanehorsey5053

10 ай бұрын

@@AgateAriel cornstarch?

Glad to see you back.its hot im mississippi how is it thair .❤️❤️🤗🤗

@AgateAriel

11 ай бұрын

It’s definitely hot here too! One of my clips from this vid was from March 🙈😅

could be the coating that makes it safe for fish coming off the rocks

@AgateAriel

10 ай бұрын

Oh I bet you’re right!

I just use regular pea gravel from lowes for step 1 works great and 40 lbs for 4.00, how do you go wrong?

Try burning that residue. If it was a plastic coating, of some sort, it will melt/burn. If it is and, it will just get hot.