coral transplants

[The Reef Project]

=20
I would like to thanks  all people below for their informative input....her=
e , I will post their responses for the Cor-lister information.  Sorry,can'=
t post your reply here,Don...
>
MY POSTED QUESTION
 Dear Coral-lister,
>=20
> We are planning to set up coral tranplant pilot project.  I am trying to
> gather as much information regardin the above endeavors on the technical
> side.  I need information of underwater quick drying cement or epoxy and
> where to buy them . Here in Sabah, Malaysia, there are limited resources
> on those stuff and thus, is expensive.  If anybody have experienced using
> cheaper substitute, i appreciate it if you could share.
>=20
> thank you,
> Wilson Alex
> The REEF PROJECT,
> Pulau Gaya, Kota Kinabalu,
> Sabah, Malaysia


PLEASE CONTACT DR. THOMAS GOREAU IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT TRULY GROWING
CORALS FASTER THAN ANYONE HAS SHOWN BEFORE.  THEY HAS WORKING PROTOTYPES AT
KEY LOCATIONS IN THE TROPICS WITH POSITIVE RESULTS. goreau at bestweb.net

All the best James M. Cerivno

***************************************
James M. Cervino
Marine Biologist
Dept. of Biology/Geology
471 University Pkwy. Aiken
South Carolina Zip: 29801
e-mail :cnidaria at earthlink.net
***************************************
Hi Wilson,

I have worked out of KK (in Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park) on an Oxford
University Expedition back in 1991 and understand about limited resources.=
=20
For your transplantation, the best bet is Portland Cement (Type II - I thin=
k
but it doesn't really matter).  What I have used in the past is cement mixe=
d
with plaster of paris (7 parts cement to 1 of plaster of paris).  Some peop=
le
suggest mixing with water on the surface and then taking down a large lump.=
=20
The way I have dealt with transplanting corals is to mix the cement and
plaster and, with it still dry, put it in plastic bags (sandwich type ones)
sealed with elastic bands.  When needed you can simply open the bag underwa=
ter
and let a little water in and then simply scrunch the bag until the cement
looks "workable".  It takes a while to get it right but once you have done =
it
a few times it becomes pretty easy.  You can then empty the bag where you w=
ant
and place the coral on top.  It starts setting pretty quickly (10 minutes) =
and
should be pretty solid within an hour or so and totally set within a day bu=
t
there is no way the corals would have been moved then unless you are in a
really high energy spot.  The success rate is high but it is a really good
idea to go back to the cement a few minutes after you have placed it and
gentle wave any excess of surrounding corals before it sets on them.  Which
they obviously won't like!  I have tried fancy premixed cement and quick st=
uff
and found that the cement / plaster of paris mix is cheaper, easier and mos=
t
of the unused bags survive to be used next time (as long as they don't leak
too much).

Its a much cheaper deal than epoxy and pretty easy to handle.

Hope this helps.  Feel free to get back to me if you need more info.

All the best,
Dan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan Hellin
Junior Research Associate / Short Course Development Officer
Department of Marine Sciences and Coastal Management
The Ridley Building
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
UK
Tel: +44 191 222 6661 (messages)
Fax: +44 191 222 7891
E-mail:  dhellin at netscape.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi,

You can use Portland cement, which is cheap and easy to use. Epoxy is very
expansive in comparison.

Take care : how to fix a fragment is not the only way to reach success, but
also you need to know how to handle framents and where to place them. I'm
sometimes very suprised by how some scientists manipulate corals, and I bet
that some fragments are dying only because of that ! ;-))

Best
Fabrice POIRAUD-LAMBERT

Dear Wilson,
This message circulated a couple of days ago.
Ruy

Ruy Kenji Papa de Kikuchi
Departamento de Ci=EAncias Exatas
Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana
BR 116, Km3 s/n, Campus Universit=E1rio
CEP 44.031-460, Feira de Santana, Bahia
Brasil
rkpkikuchi at geocities.com


----------
> De: Precht, Bill <Bprecht at pbsj.com>
> Para: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Assunto: FW: International Coral Reef Symposium and other stuff
> Data: Thursday, April 27, 2000 1:12 PM
>=20
> Coral-Listers: (esp. Juan Torres)
>=20
> With regards to questions concerning epoxies and coral attachment - the
> following should be of interest
>=20
> We here at PBS&J have been working on various coral restoration,
> rehabilitation, and transplantation projects... in these efforts some
> striking data has emerged (and will be published in a peer-reviewed forum
in
> the near future).
>=20
> In general, we have had high failure rates attaching corals with almost
ALL
> the underwater epoxies including liquid rock, etc... However, we have had
> tremendous success using Portland Cement... In fact, we have an
experimental
> garden where 50 fist-size corals were attached using epoxy and another 50
> were attached using cement... One year after transplantation (and the
> passage of a few significant storms)- 48 of the cemented ones remained
while
> only 12 of the epoxied ones were still present. Enough said...
>=20
> Because of the high efficacy rates of the cement, we use this material
> almost exclusively now...
>=20
> We pre-mix the cement on the surface and bring it down to the restoration
> site in pails. While soft, it is easy to mold and form, yet sets
relatively
> fast. =20
>=20
> Hope this helps
>=20
> cheers,
>=20
> Bill
>=20
>=20
> > William F. Precht, P.G.
> > Ecological Sciences Program Manager
> >=20
> >  <<...>>=20
> >=20
> > bprecht at pbsj.com

try garf.org
for info

----------
Dear Wilson Alex,

I have read the above posting you have made on coral
list. I have not much to offer you but I would like
later on to share with you and discuss further your
findings. For your information, currently I am also
involve with coral transplantation at Pulau
Perhentian, Terengganu. Species : Acropora and
Poccilopora.  I used simple and cheap method and easy
to handle. The success until now is almost 80%
survival. I have started the transplatation project in
June 1999. I have used chicken wire to keep the
transplants upright.

Hope to hear from you soon

pauzi

* you know me because we together attended the coral
taxonomy course at Semporna last time.

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Mohamed Pauzi Abdullah
Nibong Tebal
Pulau Pinang

=20
To Wilson Alex-

Regarding your request for information for underwater epoxies/cement:  we
have a small coral transplant project going on here at Virgin Islands
National Park.  We are using cable ties to fasten naturally-occurring
fragments of three fast growing species of coral to damaged reefs.  We
initially tried the two part putty eopxy which comes in a tube and hardens
in 1-24 hours depending on literature or in-water experience.  It only
bonded if the skeleton and substrate were totally clean.  We now use cable
ties and they work very well.  In fact, fragments cable tied to dead coral
skeleton had lower mortality than natural colonies of the same species.
The Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis have both overgrown the cable ties
and they are non-toxic.  I am attaching a low resolution image of one such
fragment.

Good luck with the project.

Ginger Garrison

Ginger Garrison
Marine Biologist
Biological Resources Division
BRD/USGS
PO Box 710
St. John, US Virgin Islands 00831

Tel: 430 693-8950
Fax: 340 693-9500