Artificial Reef Building

[CBulla]

AH... gotcha.. OK.. tourist warm/fuzzy but functional....

I've seen folks make 'bug motels' out of cinder blocks in the Keys and east coast.. I'm sure that with some creativity in stacking, maybe providing some simple add in bits like concrete 'rods' or pyramids to cap the 'reef' it could provide some variety to the structure, hiding places, and since cinder block is fairly rough on the exterior, and is formed with holes already in it, there would be lots of surface for growth and hiding places.

 

[chip104]

Archman,

I have heard of alot of ships being sunk to provide for reefs over here off the coast of CA. I had an Idea to put a bunch of old cleaned up car frames (no plastics or petroleums) in a pile at the bottom in about 40 feet but you said that metal is no good for reefs. Do you mean only coral reefs? If so, is it a good idea for me to put the car frames in the area for fish habitat? There are areas where there is no rocks and it would seem to have the same fish attracting properties as a sunken ship. I would be building this reef to add fish habitat. There are alot of old cars down here in Baja.

Is the metal a bad Idea period or just for the coral?

GTB

Hi GTB,

I know the question isn't addressed to me, but FWIW I've always been told that metal is a bad idea for coral when compared to other substrate. Corals have many ecological interactions with reef fishes and if they are not able to settle on the metal framework then you will lose very important aspects of your system's ecoweb. However, it really matters what your end goal is - which is to attract fish (which it will do). It just won't be a complete system per se.

Speaking about attracting fish - when you put down the structure what you initially do is attract fish into your system but at the same time you are displacing these fish from another reef system. Overall biodiversity mass does not change. But if it's just a small scale thing, population sustainability of the neighbouring system should be manageable and any detrimental effects should be minimal.

Just some thoughts into your project. I'm sure you've seen how well the already placed cars are doing, which (I'm guessing) is an important factor in what you decide to do. All the best with your project!

 

[gonetobaja]

Chip,

To be honest I havent put any cars or the like in the ocean yet. I wanted to do some research to find out if it was a good idea or not before I did it.

It just that there are so many wrecked cars in Baja on the sides of roads and in the local towns I was hoping it could make some reef material. I dont want to just throw stuff in the water to see what happens. There are very few corals where I go. Alot of gorgonians and soft coral though.

I was hoping the additional structure would provide areas to increase fish population but if its not going to help anything than I probably wont go through the effort.



GTB

 

[dpbishop]

GTB,

Before putting cars in the ocean you need to remove any toxic materials in them. This includes all copper wiring, electronics, etc. The sodium azide used to inflate airbags is highly toxic if ingested, so those would need to be removed. I think, from an environmental standpoint, it's better to recycle the cars and build reefs from more inert materials.

 

[gonetobaja]

I think your right. Besides the effort and cost to strip the cars down to get them to bare safe metal might be alot. Then I have to find a way to pick up the cars and get them to the reef to be placed. It sounds like it would be easier to build rockpiles in the water and better. I was just hoping to find an answer for all of the cars and get a reef closer to my place

Looks like the cheaper alternitave is just to drive my boat out to the islands.

It would be cool to be able to build a reef though and then go dive and visit it to see what moves in.....

 

[chairmanTARAC]

car reefs are not effective artificial reefs. The steel is way to thin to last. If you go to some auto sites in the carribbean you will find very poor results. Ships to reefs is the way to go and also support from the dive community to dive them.

 

[richard ruschman]

I work with marine biologist Tom Goreau (Cozumel barracuda attackee) and Wolf Hilbertz, inventors of the "Biorock" mineral accretion process. Check out www.globalcoral.org, and in the "news" section of the website, read about our MIT award-winning Philippines project which will be erected this summer. I handle US gulf coast applications--primarily looking to set up oyster reefs this summer as erosion control submerged permeable breakwaters. Extremely cool stuff!