advice

[david]

Dear coral list

I am doing a project on coral recruitment to settlement plates on a budget
that makes the proverbial shoestring seem lavish. I have over 200
settlement plates (unglazed ceramic tiles) in the water and aim to change
them every 3 months.
To save money I am considering cleaning and recycling previously used
plates, rather than buying new ones each time. However I am uncertain
whether reusing plates could be considered to have 'altered' the substrate,
making it difficult to compare data from new and used plates. Scrubbing the
plates with a hard brush seems to remove any residues, but they could be
washed in a mild acid solution if necessary.

any comments / advice would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

David Glassom
Inter University Institute
Eilat, Israel