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#1
02-10-2010, 08:13 AM
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BioRock Experiment
I've been thinking this over for a while and I have the time now to indulge in my curiosity, so I'm going to just throw this out there to see who might be interested...
Many of you are probably pretty familiar with the Biorock project by now. For those that aren't, the idea is that they use electricity to stimulate the growth of corals on galvanized steel structures thus growing an artificial reef. Cool stuff. They have found that corals grow 3 to 6 times faster on these electrified structures! As far as I have found, no one has tried this in an aquarium. I have found forums that mention the idea but no one has ventured to try it. I want to try! This is particularly interesting to me as it is related to my research (I am doing my PhD in electrochemical engineering and photocatalysis) and the jump between my work and this idea is small and could lead to something really cool. Plus it'd be sweet to grow your expensive frags to colony proportions lickety-split. What I want to do is build a conducting frag rack that can boost the growth of frags using this technique. I want to experiment with SPS frags on this device. My tank set-up, however, is not ideal for this... it's simply to small and not mature enough. I am wondering if there is someone out there who is an SPS pro and doses calc, alk and magnesium who would be willing to work with me in their tank to try this out? The idea would be to put this frag rack in the tank with two frags from the same mother side-by-side (so they have the same light), mounted identically except only one of them will be on the electrified rack. We would then measure the growth rates over a period of time and see which grows fastest. I will build and pay for the device, I just need someone willing to test it. I know many people are hesitant to try this out, especially with the whole electricity/water combo. I can assure you that this thing would not cause stray voltage issues (Stray voltage is mostly an AC current issue. This device uses low DC currents) and I will ensure that all the materials are compatible with a tank. Anybody curious to give this a try? 
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#2
02-10-2010, 01:30 PM
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Hmm, totally interesting concept. They are growing it on Galvanized steel? No leeching effects I wonder? I am interested in this, but my tank is probibally not the best for you to experiment on. Not yet anyways.
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Dan Pesonen Umm, a tank or 5
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#4
02-10-2010, 04:41 PM
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The galvanized steel would be electrochemically protected (any rust and corrosion would actually be reversed in these conditions) and would not leach. I will not build something I wouldn't put into my own tank.
I am going to finish reading a few of the published biorock scientific papers and do a few designs over the next two weeks. I have the Olympics off basically as I can't get to work (my lab is right next to the hockey venue). After that I'll build it and give it a test in my lab on my potentiostat to make sure the materials are safe, how much power it needs, etc. I'd prefer an established set-up for a whole laundry list of reasons. The big one being stability; also someone with a good knowledge of SPS is a benefit too (not saying that anyone here isn't). My SPS tank is stable but small (20G) and young... That is too many variables as it is without adding a gizmo to it and trying to determine results.
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#5
02-11-2010, 04:27 AM
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It turns out that ReefHQ, an aquarium in Australia, has been experimenting with the process for a couple years now in their tanks, so it is reef safe. They have a few nifty tricks in their system that could make this possible in small aquariums like the ones we deal with. I have contacted them for more info and results.
Anybody in Vancouver interested? Also, comments, ideas and input are appreciated!
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#6
02-11-2010, 06:06 AM
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Quote:
 I've been tempted to play with something like this, but just haven't had the time to play much. I'm in Kamloops with a 220gal SPS tank, automated dosing for calc and alk. Seems they are only using about 12VDC which doesn't worry me about the stray voltage. I could probably slap something together and do it myself, but I don't have any specs on what they are running for current Last edited by wolf_bluejay; 02-11-2010 at 06:30 AM.
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