Are special additives used in the Pier on Bevan artificial reefs to attract animals?
Top No, nutrients, fish pellets (food), or other additives were not introduced into the Reef Ball artificial reef to artificially promote organism growth. Additives are used in the case of Reef Balls only to counter properties of regular concrete that would otherwise prevent marine life growth (such as neutralizing the pH of the lime in concrete). Some projects in other parts of the world have used additives in Reef Balls to artificially promote growth (e.g. adding ash to the concrete mixture to promote plant growth). Also, some other artificial reef materials (such as steel) have been said to promote growth of some organisms due to the presence of otherwise limiting nutrients (e.g. iron, from steel, is required for plant growth and it is normally present in the oceans, but at levels that limit plant growth).
