Why are Reef Balls better than other artificial reefs?
Reef Balls are superior to many other materials for the following reasons: 1) An artificial reef should not contain toxins that leach into the sea water. Tires are known to leach petroleum compounds and other nastiness. Some older military ships contain large amounts of PCBs. Many “Materials Of Opportunity” (i.e. cars, barges, etc.) contain toxins. 2) An artificial reef should not contain biologically active compounds like copper, iron, zinc, chromium, or fertilizers. Steel objects favor the growth of marine plants and invertebrate that need iron. Although this stimulates the growth of some species, it does not stimulate a natural growth and the species diversity and densities will not mimic natural reefs. 3) An artificial reef should remain stable on the bottom and last for hundreds of years. Many objects are just too light or have too high of a profile compared to their weight to remain stable on the bottom. These objects will move around in storms tearing up the natural reefs as the
