1) A grant was approved to build more Reef Balls for Sarasota Bay.
2) A white paper by Dale P. Bentz and Paul E. Stutzman on the use of
Micosilica & large porosity was posted at www.artificialreefs.com in the
scientific resources. The idea Reef Ball concrete utilizes the
microsilica to completely react with the Calcium Hydroxide with high
strength concrete and low microporosity, however macro porosity could be
desirable for it's biological benefits...this paper gives some insights
into how this idea concrete can be designed for artificial reefs. Reef
Ball standard mix designs actually yield an optimal result but this paper
helps to explain why and what variable might affect the outcome of the
desired design.
3) 20 Reef Balls will be deployed in Mastique with Applied Marine
Technologies that will be using the Adopt A Coral program to transplant 36
tank raised soft and hard corals (according to natural diversity in the
area deployed) on each of the Pallet Balls for the project. This
demonstration project is planned to be expanded to 200 Pallet Balls once
the research documents the successfulness of this asexual reproductive
method of propagating corals.
4) Reef Balls may be used near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a pilot project
do demonstrate the effectiveness of CO2 sequestration by the growth of
hard corals made possible by a grant from a local NGO (to be announced
when the project is approved).
5) A marine science teacher in Sarasota plans to develop a Reef Ball Under
Dock program in Sarasota Bay with 4-6 grade marine science students this
year.
6) Reef Ball staff will be training the PADI Aware Staff at a lake near
Zurich, Switzerland from Sept 1-10th.
7) Reef Innovations is doing another project in N.C., and also has just
completed a project of 160 Reef Balls for Ft. Lauderdale. The company
will split operations for the next few weeks building Reef Balls in both
Sarasota and North Carolina. Additional Reef Balls are being constructed
in multiple locations for a freshwater lake project.
8) Reef Builders, Inc. is donating 5 Reef Balls to the Panama City Marine
Institute.
9) Reef Ball congratulates Rick Conlin of W.R. Grace and Company ("Father"
of Reef Ball concrete technologies) for his promotion to the Eastern US
Sales Manager and his move to Chicago, Ill. Rick will continue to work
with Reef Ball clients to assist them with concrete issues even with his
new duties. He does have a new phone number so contact the Reef Ball
office if you need it.
10) Ride Innovations has orders for over 50 Reef Ball molds currently in
process...during the next month, expect new Reef Ball mold orders to take
3-4 weeks for processing. If you are planning a project with a tight
timeframe and will be needing new molds, please contact us as early as
possible to insure your spot on the production schedule. We are expecting
a large order for over 200 molds within the next few months and it is
expected that during that time processing time for new orders may increase
to 6 weeks or more.
11) The coral spawn and coral settlements are expected over the next
several weeks....be sure your Reef Balls deployed at this time of year,
have had a full 30 days cure time and the proper amounts of microsilica to
take full advantage of this year's spawn.
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