The Reef Ball Foundation-Designed Artificial Reefs

Designed Artificial Reefs

The word "designed" means that an artificial reef has been both engineered to last against sea forces (chemical and physical) and shaped with biological uses in mind. All Reef Balls, for example, are made with concrete engineered to last over 500 years and tested in wave tanks to ensure they cannot overturn in waves. Site specific engineering allows for anchoring or minimum weight requirements when applied in shallow waters or in high energy sites. Biologically, Reef Balls have been shaped to optimize protective void spaces for fish and include features such as with rough surface textures to enhance coral settlement. Holes designed to create whirlpools help bring nutrients to animals and plants living on the Reef Ball surface. Materials of opportunity ...artificial reefs not designed specifically to be a reef...will never match the quality habitat provided by designed reefs. Designed reefs don't always cost more than "free" materials...the biggest expense in building reefs can be getting your reefs into the sea. By clever design, Reef Balls can be floated behind any sized boat using the internal float ion bladders used in the molding process. And skip over-land transportation costs by building your reef next to where you need them.

Plant Mangroves
(Reef Ball Mangrove Solutions)

When the goal is to rehabilitate reefs, water quality and nearby interconnected habitats are often critical to successful projects. Mangroves are one of the habitats found in tropical seas that can both improve water quality and provide interconnected living spaces for marine reef species. However, for many marine species, the mangrove roots must be surrounded by water at least during some tides to provide shelter. Planting mangroves at the littoral zone is often very difficult because waves and ocean debris can damage young mangrove plants. The Reef Ball Foundation developed a system ...using small artificial reefs as "planters" that allow for carefree planting of red mangrove propagules. Note: traditional planting techniques work fine if you are not planting where waves and tides will impact your plants. Mangrove Solutions division only assists in planting mangroves in environments where mangrove roots are partially or fully submerged in the water.

Saving Marine Reef Ecosystems Through Education, Monitoring & Research

The Reef Ball Foundation does so much more than using Artificial Reefs to enhance habitats. In fact, our number one message is educational....it is far easier to save ocean reef ecosystems than it is to rehabilitate them. We use our programs and projects as sounding boards to spread the word about saving our natural reefs. Everyone involved in our projects learn how valuable reefs are, and how simple changes in the way we do things can help to save and protect them. Just keeping plastic bags out of the water near coral reefs can make a tremendous positive impact. Designed artificial reefs are an excellent tool to teach the world to care for our reefs. A large percentage of our projects are conducted by students....from kindergartners to doctoral students. Get out the word and save our reefs! Our key to success is being action oriented, hands on learning and participation is key to learning in any culture.

We also encourage scientific research and require monitoring on all of our grant projects. All scientific reports are posted in the photo database in project folders named "scientific reports" or " monitoring." For non-project specific research papers we maintain a library of scientific resources.

Habitat Enhancement

Reef Balls are uniquely designed to enhance marine habitats, unlike most artificial reefs and man made structures. That means whatever your primary goals and application, reef balls will be a net positive addition to the marine environments. When the Reef Ball Foundation undertakes projects that don't have habitat enhancment goals, we impose the additional burden on our clients to adhere to our specifications insuring positive increases in marine habitat . We reserve the right not to provide our products, molds and services to clients that can't meet these standards. Our copyrights and patents are used to protect these standards. We adhere to all local permitting laws and work closely with artificial reef coordinaters and government authorities. If you have questions about permits, contact your local permitting agencies. Our world mapping system often lists artificial reef coordinator contacts, if you are in the US this AR contact list might be helpful.