3D Printed Live Rock

[ieatbugman]

Also, i really like the way rock looks day one, the plastic would need a fair amount of time to mature, it would (in my opinion) not look great in a fowlr tank

 

[GARRIGA]

Absolutely not. I strive to create ecosystems with a wide range of diversity, which means providing a suitable habitat as well as materials to live and burrow in.

And in fairness, Live Rock IS a renewable resource, and with a little bit of patience it's even possible to grow one's own. At the end of the day, live rock is just an amalgam of coral skeletons, shells, sediments and other calcifying processes.

Fair enough. This isn't for you. Doesn't mean it isn't for others and where exactly do you think today's so called live rock comes from? Most is land-based or man made dumped in the ocean for an extended time to collect life then sold. It's not the live rock I started with.

I'm good with a monster frag plug framed as I want it.

 

[GARRIGA]

Also, i really like the way rock looks day one, the plastic would need a fair amount of time to mature, it would (in my opinion) not look great in a fowlr tank

Doesn't have to be plastic

 

[ieatbugman]

What about a terracotta or clay rock, one that is designed with lots of holes (sorry if yall have already talked about this)

 

[GARRIGA]

This structure building reefs and not made of plastic

Think about the possibilities of having various ledges that interlock and can be designed to fit one's tank from coast to coast creating one solid foundation with crevasses and holes. If this is good enough for an actual reef then it's good enough for my miniature replica.

 

[ieatbugman]

Doesn't have to be plastic

I know, but it is just such an interesting idea. Especially because most of us tend to like more natural stuff, i would find it interesting to do a totally different thing with the plastic or some other material

 

[GARRIGA]

What about a terracotta or clay rock, one that is designed with lots of holes (sorry if yall have already talked about this)

Have used that in FW to breed plecos.

 

[GARRIGA]

I know, but it is just such an interesting idea. Especially because most of us tend to like more natural stuff, i would find it interesting to do a totally different thing with the plastic or some other material

Yet ultimately, I too want nothing to do with plastic but it's a conversation starter and now progressed to where it would be most viable. Something looking natural where life would stick. Will it dig in too? Don't know.

 

[DaJMasta]

Let's not fixate on plastic. Other materials available as I pointed out. Corals grow on plugs made of wood or concrete. These structures don't have to be plastic and buffering can be accomplished without aragonite rocks. Considering aragonite rocks are man made as well then guessing that can be utilized on these printers yet structure made to suit and made hallow and with joins therefore easier to landscape and sell.

Prefer if the direction was to making it work vs why it won't since reefs already being built this way therefore we know it works.

As I said initially, my complaints were with using plastic, which are the only reef ready options posted here, I've also outlined specific concerns against plastic as well as specific ways of improving designs using conventional plastic.

While 3d printed rock from materials closer to what reefs are actually made of (and aragonite is primarily a naturally occurring material), the practicalities of printing those materials are much more difficult on a size scale that would work for a reef tank. If you've ever seen a 3d printer for ceramics, think in that direction - because of the texture of the material being used, the layers and extrusions have to be much thicker and have to have much less dramatic overhangs to retain their shape. If you're going for a reasonably natural look in a tank, 2-5mm layer heights aren't really going to be it until completely encrusted with coral, and if you're fine with that look, why not just use blocks of ceramic media that are already commercially available and which will have much more porosity for bacteria.

The control of and maybe more importantly huge variety of pore sizes in regular live rock are going to be very challenging to replicate even in an industrial setting, let alone on a home printer setup. You've got to be able to control the mixture getting laid down, and given that 3d printing's requirements for consistency and flow rate are so much more constrained than, for example, casting a block of something, finding good and inexpensive methods to make that porosity is going to be a real challenge that has not yet been solved.

Speaking to live rock as habitat, it is the variety of pore sizes that really gives you the whole benefit. Lets say you have a 3d printable mixture to make aragonite based rocks of shapes you like with reasonable looking size and texture - to give varied size tunnel habitats, line of sight blocking protrusions for small animals, and other minute features that live rock already comes with, you're going to have to again develop technology beyond what exists in terms of fine control of clay like extrusions, dynamic crevice generation so it doesn't have to be manually modeled into the CAD files, or something like injection of something that expands into a gas that generates random pockets in the structure after initially being laid down.

It's not that it could never be done, but I don't think it's something realistically close (honestly, plastic rock is going to be the easiest to engineer those microfeatures because of the much finer nozzle size and layer height and better layer adhesion when first laid down), so while very large sizes already exist, sizes that make sense for a home aquarium and look reasonable are probably still a long way off.

While aside to the other points above, I'm not sure 'but you could add live rock and sand' make a compelling case for plastic 3d printed rock being that viable either. It's not that I think it could never be done, should never be done, or isn't worth talking about - my (and others) bringing up potential issues with its design and implementation is also not some attack on the idea.

 

[GARRIGA]

I'm no longer sold on the porosity of live rock and today's live rock isn't porous. Therefore not a consideration I'm fixated on nor needed going forward as it applies to me. Man made rock has zero pores.

Main focus being the creation of exactly how I want it including indented holders for plugs so I don't have that eye sour until coral encrusts over it.

Not visualizing the issue with the 5ml layer although it appears based on how you explain it as just being an eye sour until life grows over it and I can contend with that just as I contend with white dry rock. When options are limited that's the concession made.

If making it porous not pragmatic than so be it but it appears that as layers are formed crevasses are formed and perhaps there's an acceptable minimum where that would provide flow through the structure where inside there would be biological media that would solve the concern with lack of biological habitat.

If they can create small and large structures for actual reefs then don't see how this isn't functional in home aquariums. One company promotes their Lego type sets which are smaller than some rocks kept and yet interlock to create a larger structure.

I'm fond of ledges which require obtaining dry rock of various sizes for stacking. Wonderful it would be if these were separate pieces design in such a way they actually stacked and formed what might represents a reef vs just a bunch of dry rock glued together. Beauty being they can be made hollow allowing for adding biological media as well as making it lighter and easier to handle and especially if smaller pieces that interlock like a Lego set this company uses.

Can't step away from the fact we're talking about something in play already. It's not a discussion of if it can happen or why it won't and more about how to alter it for our needs.

I don't know your background but you seem knowledgeable therefore can those structures already being deployed to replace reefs not be built for our needs? Worse case. Build large chunks and cut to need. How ledges are made. Excuse the lack of knowledge on my end but I'm trying to learn and going off what I'm finding.

 

[GARRIGA]

This group giving me hope there's a solution for home aquaria with their interlocking pieces indicating it can be built reef friendly to grow coral and they show small enough pieces for our application.

A new dimension to marine restoration: 3D printing coral reefs

The local fishermen looked on skeptically. From the deck of a small motorboat, scuba divers grabbed odd chunks of ceramic – which could be described as rocky brains stuck on stumpy stilts – and plunged into the aquamarine waters. The dive team assembled the pieces as a few triggerfish circled...

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