MT79 said:
just sticking a piece of rock in the bay/ocean/jetty and letting it sit there for a month
FWIW, it's more like 2-5 years to get good aquacultured
lr.
Maybe. From what I know about estuarine and marine ecology, putting a piece of good rock with lots of surface area in the right place could result in good recruitment of all sorts of stuff within a relatively short period of time. Granted, the same sort of result in oceanic (pelagic) systems would take a longer period of time. I won't debate that with you because you are correct.
My logic is drawn from the fact that it is entirely possible to culture marine organisms at super high densities (intensive or super-intensive culture) to obtain the same result in a relatively short period of time. Shrimp farmers do it on a regular basis in ponds that are only about 2 acres of area but they culture well in excess of 2 million animals over a 9-month period...some to 38 grams or more with decent survivabilities. I have personally witnessed a shrimp farmer harvest 23 thousand pounds of Pacific white shrimp from ONE pond. These ecosystems proceed from a dry earthen pond pottom to a fully established, VERY dense ecosystem in the course of 6 months or less. Amazingly enough, if the farmers are forced to put their ponds on recirc, salinities can exceed 45
ppt. Algal communities are rampant and pathogens exploit the opportunity to infect animals that are already stressed by hypersaline conditions. In an ideal situation, water is sourced from estuarine systems with close proximity to an oceanic exchange outlet.
The one month time frame was stated simply as a figure of speech. I realize that the process would take much longer, but 2-3 years is a time frame that
IMO can probably be beaten with the proper WQ and culture techniques. Microbial biofilms will form very quickly. This has been shown time and again in the scientific literature. Several well-respected microbial ecologists have proven that biofilm formation in natural systems can proceed very quickly given the right set of conditions. Just look on
www.sciencedirect.com and search for "biofilm formation" and see what you come up with in terms of peer-reviewed journal articles. Read just the abstracts...you might be surprised at what you find. If you are one of those that requires physical proof, look at your teeth tomorrow morning before you brush them. That will show you how rapidly a biofilm can form. In a natural marine/estuarine system, there are no interfering factors that can inhibit the initial microbial col,onization on a decent substratum. These biofilms are obviously the basis for the entire micro-community.
Pelagic organisms such as barnacle larvae or molluscan trochophores will settle out on just about any suitable substratum. Crabs and polychaete worms will colonize quickly if the substrate is placed in an area that already harbors a high density of the desired animals. I will admit that recruitment of a coraline algae community will take a very long time. I want to try a little experiment that may help to overcome that time barrier. This is why I asked the question that I asked. Your answer is the exact sort of response that I was looking for.
Famous last words..."hold my beer and watch this"...