1. Marine Aquaculture Chris Haynes
Live Rock Aquaculture
Marine Aquaculture
Chris Haynes

2. What is Live Rock? Rock that is “alive” with organisms.
Rock itself isnt alive
Used in saltwater aquaria.
Reef tanks or FOWLR tanks.
Named for where it came from.

3. 3 kinds Dead Rock- Rock that has no living organisms attached
Base Rock- Has some coralline growth
Live Rock- has more growth on it, Coralline alga, corals, polyps. etc

4. Why is Live Rock needed? Provides the necessary jumpstart
Medium for nitrifying bacteria
Denitrifying bacteria
Great biological filter
Huge amount of surface area/ very porous
Made of calcareous skeletons

5. Why is Live Rock needed? Great at stabilizing PH
Is a buffer by releasing calcium carbonate
Great substrate to affix corals
Decorative
Hosts multitude of organisms

6. Culture Harvested directly
Aquaculture projects- suspended in water column for as little as 8 months up to 5 years
Little work
Seeding

7. Harvest by hand Damages pre-existing reef structure
Hammer to break off chunks of rock
Banned in Florida
Other countries starting to shift towards aquaculture

8. Aquaculture Suspended in water column by rafts Let sit on bottom
Rock is left up to 5 years before harvest
Allows time for colonies of growth
Only maintenance is picking off unwanted algae
Special seeding facilities – Walt Smith Fiji

10. 6 months
1 year
18 months
2 years

11. Curing It’s not ready yet
Still have to remove dead matter from transport
Container to completely cover rock
Saltwater, thermometer at 76 degrees, powerhead
Scrub all dead matter off rock and let it cure
Frequent siphoning/water changes
Could take a few days to a month
When water stops smelling you can put into aquarium

12. Hitchhikers Can be a bad thing Unwanted bristleworms Mantis shrimp
Snails
Algae
Sponges
Aiptasia