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Homemade reef...

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Hello
Good point, check with the authorities. Have you thought of using a dolos. It is a SA invention that we use on the outside wall of our harbours and breakwaters. Basically it is an H-shaped block of concrete that has been twisted through 90'. The dolosse lock on each other with lots of holes and spaces between them that normally break the waves strenght.
Good luck with your project, I wish much success.
Jacques
 
I believe the late Cliff Lock of Bournemouth placed a number of used tyres between Bournemouth pier and the Durley Rocks in the late fifties for lobsters. He lived close by and claimed to always pick up one or two whenever he visited his "larder". Presumably they're still there? I beleve he scattered them about so that would-be "poachers" would only find one or two. Worth a look? Or a try yourself?
 
Reactions: Mr. X
Boulders is the way to go. This is the bottom of a jetty some guy over here built himself. If it were in a better and deeper spot it would be prime hunting ground.

[ame=http://s179.photobucket.com/albums/w317/atomichaggis/?action=view&current=Klovningdive.flv] [/ame]
 
Reactions: Pastor
Slide-show of both the Global Warming conference in Bali, Indonesia and solar panel electric charged iron dome artificial reefs. See photo 50+

Climate Change Issues on Yahoo! News Photos

I think a floating solar panel attached above a reef dome would give some shade for fish, not sure if it would last or not.
 
It works Very well! Where I live, the goverment has entire programs devoted to artificial reefs in the Gulf. Also you are alowed to make your own 9under certain material guidleines and weight, ect) and deploy them in certain designated areas after paying for a permit.

The snapper in my avatar was taken off a 8 foot high pryamid made out of welded together steel I-beams. Nothing else but sand all around. We also took 2 more snappers the same size range, a red grouper, and a huge black snapeer off the same little pryamid. We left to more monsters there for another time, not to mention plenty of legal sized ones.

I am a meber of the RFRA (Reef Fish Restoration Association) here where you pay yearly dues, we have a clubhouse, workshop, all the metal working tools and welders you can imagine, and we get all sorts of donated steel to build as many as we privately want.

We have very little natural bottom here, it is mostly sand, so the more reefs we put out, the more fish we can support here and increase the breeding and fishieries.

Here is one built by a local school class.

 
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Reactions: Mr. X
How about a couple of large plastic barrels with holes in, weighted with lead or rocks, with a marker buoy - they use these exact things as lobster pots. What stops you cutting bigger holes so fish can swim in/out and putting a few out there? Most authorities don't object to this because they are non-toxic and reclaimable.
It doesnt even have to be an expensive buoy either, I've seen home made lobster pots with old 5l bottles filled with air as floats.
 
I know the goal is to keep plastic out of our oceans, and not tryin to rag. But eventually, thru storms ect, theese reefs can move, get buried ect. Plastic will never return to the envoroment in a natural element state, where as cement and steel will.

It is illegal here, but I have heard that old toilets make the best grouper reefs!
 
I was not suggesting you leave them there...
Thats why the buoys are attached, so you can remove them.

Concrete is pretty nasty stuff... Exudes a host of nasty chemicals.

Look up the Scylla - the naval ship they scuttled off South Devon... Covered in Tri-Butyl Tin. Somehow someone let them sink that one.
 
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I don't think regular hard concrete or ceramic structures are bad, other than looking a little funky in the sea. Plastics, rubber, synthetics I don't like, aside from temporary removables.

Iron tetrahedrons like the one pictured seem like a good idea, strong, stable, won't get shifted around like the rubber reef tires did. Can easily add more by welding some on top of others, as long as the whole structure is pyramidal so it won't flip over.

Marine critters like iron, its rare in the sea, so lots of crustaceans, mollusks, algae, mangroves & fish will increase, but possibly also red tide(?). Too much iron would probably overwhelm a small area, but spread out would be beneficial. Obviously, any iron materials with toxic marine paints would be bad, since they are formulated to prevent barnacles and other sea critters from attaching.

What are the things hanging from the tetrahedron? chains? are they all welded tightly or hanging loosely? I guess adding a bit more "guts" on the inside of the tetrahedron would give more places for corals to attach to and fish to hide in. Something like one plate (welded to one of the sides of the frame) with holes and pockets, maybe even cheap clay flowerpots attached (or do they dissolve?).

My own thought was to make an iron "octet truss", a space frame of tetrahedrons and octahedrons, made with minimum materials but reaching up from the sandy sea bottom maybe 100' (30 m) depending on the water depth.
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_frame]Space frame - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

adding some plates here and there would give more attachments and more security.
 
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Yes, that is a decarotive one school kids made, and they welded a chain and anchor on it, and cut out the letters for the name of there school,

In my area, there are at least 200 of those PUBLICLY deployed with the GPS numbers listed. Not counting all the private ones that people have deployed.

We also have piles of army tanks, airplanes, old concrete bridge rubble piles, and more manmade reefs like that one in the picture, and every other configuration.

And of course, the larges artificial reef in the world...the USS Oriskany aircraft carrier. There are some pictures of it in my picture gallery link below. With the flag, and POW~MIA flag.

We are fortunate that our county and state goverment put so much into our artificial reef program. And let us deploy our own permitted reefs.

Old chicken coops are among the favorite for attracting fish. Alaso alot of peple will add large diameter pipe to there reef designs, "grouper holes".
 
wet said:
Marine critters like iron, its rare in the sea, so lots of crustaceans, mollusks, algae, mangroves & fish will increase, but possibly also red tide(?).
Click to expand...

Organisms in the sea like anything to grow on. If you put something down there in a sheltered location, give it little time and something will grow on it.

I wouldn't worry about getting a red tide originating from your tetrahedron, it's not gonna happen.
 
Red tide is the consequence of an algae bloom...nothing to do with iron oxides leeching into the ocean.
 
Blenny said:
Red tide is the consequence of an algae bloom...nothing to do with iron oxides leeching into the ocean.
Click to expand...

Top Story--Images of Saharan Dust Moving Across Atlantic, June and July,1999 - August 28, 2001

In blue marine waters, inland nutrients (Iron, copper, phosphates) are rare. The various algae, molluscs, small fish have evolved filter feeding methods to get as much of these rare nutrients as possible out of the near-sterile blue water.

Any LARGE addition of these nutrients (especially in fine particles (like dust from the Sahara, or excess seasonal flooding) sets off a chain reaction:

algal bloom (K. brevis spp.) -> toxic byproducts -> fish kill
or
algal bloom -> fish overpopulation -> BOD increases -> fish kill

Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.

The problem is concentration, an automobile junkyard dumped into a blue marine bay would probably cause a local outbreak of algal scum, the same way that clothes washing detergents (had high levels of phosphates) in sewerage produced scum (algae) which killed the fish because they used up the oxygen.

Too much (inland) nutrients in a marine ecosystem that for millions of years produced flora and fauna selected for survival in low nutrient waters. Dumping in these nutrients will result in a loss of the original species, followed by replacement with species adapted for high nutrient waters.

Artificial reefs are generally good, as long as toxic paints, greases, oils and other nasty chemicals are removed, and they are not too big for the size of the bay. Out in mid ocean, an aircraft carrier is proportionately tiny, but in a bay it is too large.

The iron tetrahedrons are great, because for the space they occupy they have only a little bit of material, and that iron is in solid form rather than in powder form, so it will release the iron ions slowly into the water. So as long as there aren't too many (hundreds or thousands) in a small bay, no problem at all regarding overfertilization of the water.

BOD = Biological Oxygen Demand
 
Clay-Doh said:
Yes, that is a decarotive one school kids made, and they welded a chain and anchor on it, and cut out the letters for the name of there school,
Click to expand...
Terrific, excellent project. IMO, any ocean dumping for the purpose of artificial reef production should follow long term ecological guidelines specific to that locale.
And of course, the larges artificial reef in the world...the USS Oriskany aircraft carrier. There are some pictures of it in my picture gallery link below. With the flag, and POW~MIA flag.
Click to expand...
Fish can't read, PR doesn't impress them, just the tourists. Barnacles are non-political, they'll attach to anything in the sea that isn't freshly coated with toxic "marine paint".
We are fortunate that our county and state goverment put so much into our artificial reef program. And let us deploy our own permitted reefs.
Click to expand...
Is that the same government that built the rubber reefs?
Old chicken coops are among the favorite for attracting fish. Alaso alot of peple will add large diameter pipe to there reef designs, "grouper holes".
Click to expand...

Yeah, that sounds good. As long as the surfaces are grip-able (unlike smooth porcelean bathtubs), critters will attach.
 
I think even smooth porcelain will be grown upon eventually. It depends whether it is sheltered enough.

Mussels settle and form beds on sheet glass. (I've done it in the lab).
 
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