What if we could 3D print our aquascape?

[siggy]

I can see this becoming viable in the future, buying a engineered aqua-scape will have several advantages. Footprint, stability, coral mounting and placement and zones designed to accommodate flow and light while reducing detritus, Internal heaters- sensors-flow pumps ect. We already have a rock with a PAR sensor!... I can defiantly see a Total engineered reef! no more guessing which power head, placement and flow pattern or is this the right light?
It will all be configured and will be like buying a PC to order...... Just add water

 

[TheHarold]

I disagree with the relation you draw towards harvesting live rock and 3d printing rock structures. That is not an accurate comparison whatsoever.

3d printed rock would compare to dry rock, which is not taken from reefs anyway.

Also- the whole point of rock in a reef tank is the porosity and surface area for beneficial bacteria. The models you have provided show solid shelled, hollow prints.

Either they would float, or water would be stagnant inside.

Incomplete article IMO.

 

[reefwiser]

The problem is that this stuff doesn't support the microbiome that supports the reef ecosystem and just sticking plastic or rock that in unseeded causes all the algae issues that hobbyist deal with daily.
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/unseen-world-coral-reefs
The simple bacteria for ammonia reduction is just one of many helpful bacteria that one gets when using fresh live rock.
I see this constantly as I answer newbies issues daily. Fresh live rock is not seen much in the hobby anymore but it was main the reason the hobby became successful. Before hobbyist started using live rock we had many set backs. They use to make moulded rocks for tanks before live rock came about it is was just a great Algae substrate.

 

[siggy]

I disagree with the relation you draw towards harvesting live rock and 3d printing rock structures. That is not an accurate comparison whatsoever.

The simple bacteria for ammonia reduction is just one of many helpful bacteria that one gets when using fresh live rock.

I think we all agree that Real Alive rock will always be the most effective and diverse approach out of the gate. I think the Op's article is looking forward into LR alternatives due to current trends in wild harvesting and marketing tactics that have the newer gen. buying all this painted, architectural and manufactured stuff.

BTW the largest LFS in my area is changing over to ALL this new stuff. He said that is what everyone wants and the dead rock is getting harder to get. I have been cherry picking the bleached rock that he's been pulling out for 6 months at 4$ a pound, as for plastics and bacteria populations my 3D frag racks get fully encrusted with coraline, and once a rocks pores become totally encrusted will it continue to house the populations that it once did?
Then their is the marine pure-bio pellets and no-pox debate. I have always insisted on the real stuff but I cant deny that its changing.

 

[CoralNerd]

I'll be your tester. I just put in a man made non porous structure in my tank. I also have 3 Marine Pure Blocks. 8 Maxspect-nano-tech-bio-block, and a bunch of aged misc rubble rock.

 

[siggy]

I'll be your tester. I just put in a man made non porous structure in my tank. I also have 3 Marine Pure Blocks. 8 Maxspect-nano-tech-bio-block, and a bunch of aged misc rubble rock.

AND a boat load of filter socks!
That will look t!!ts with acro colony's coming out of each Ho..... did I mention a engineered structure?....super cool!

 

[reefwiser]

I already have the marine pure blocks and Ceramic system for the past 4 years now. It has been a roller coaster ride compared to a full fresh live rock system.

I'll be your tester. I just put in a man made non porous structure in my tank. I also have 3 Marine Pure Blocks. 8 Maxspect-nano-tech-bio-block, and a bunch of aged misc rubble rock.

I have a rack system like this in my tank for 2.5 years from Alternative Reef. The issue you will find is that the coating will degrade over time and flake off. Looks cute new not so cute 3 to years down the line. But by then the hobbyist will have so many problems they will give up and go on to an other hobby.

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

I've been using my 3D printer to create tank accessories (handles, pump Vortex Flow Accelerators, tubing holders, etc.). I've found that the PLA filament doesn't last long in the tank especially if you make parts that need to stay tight or are directly under LEDs...

 

[CoralNerd]

Should coraline up plus the structure will be hidden by sps.

3d Printed Ceramic does sound sweet though.

 

[Dburr1014]

I like the idea.
Scanning a natural red face or ruins on the ocean floor and shrinking it down to four my tank. Love it.
It would have to be Porous and support bacteria of course, and seeing it would be easy.
Having plug holes would be even better!

 

[dantimdad]

A long time ago, in an issue of FAMA, there was an article about reef keeping in Russia. The reefers were putting small "cuttings" of corals on a fiberglass rock scape with pieces of titanium wire to hold them until they encrusted.

Some of them were very pretty IIRC. You could tell they were fake, but, the concept was solid.

I wish I had kept all those magazines.

Also, I can tell you for sure coralline will grow on ABS so it would only be a matter of time until it looked more natural.

 

[rock_lobster]

Not good plastic doesnt work well for reef rocks

 

[dantimdad]

I'll be your tester. I just put in a man made non porous structure in my tank. I also have 3 Marine Pure Blocks. 8 Maxspect-nano-tech-bio-block, and a bunch of aged misc rubble rock.

Where did you get that?

 

[CoralNerd]

Where did you get that?

AquaRocks

 

[Reef-junky]

3D printing has been used last several years in the wild to build artificial reefs. Biggest one was most recent in the Summer Islands (Maldives)


Great watch.

That’s really cool

 

[dantimdad]

It's cool but the reef itself isn't 3d printed. It's cast from ceramic from 3d printed molds.

 

[Reef-junky]

It's cool but the reef itself isn't 3d printed. It's cast from ceramic from 3d printed molds.

And it doesn’t look real at all but all the artificial reefs I’ve seen don’t.

 

[Reefcreators]

I already have the marine pure blocks and Ceramic system for the past 4 years now. It has been a roller coaster ride compared to a full fresh live rock system.


I have a rack system like this in my tank for 2.5 years from Alternative Reef. The issue you will find is that the coating will degrade over time and flake off. Looks cute new not so cute 3 to years down the line. But by then the hobbyist will have so many problems they will give up and go on to an other hobby.

This is why back when everyone was switching to these “reef safe” epoxys we didn’t for making aquascapes. Ceramic is by far more beneficial for filtration purposes and can be colored just like this epoxy at 1/4 the cost. As for using ceramic rocks to replace LR it’s much more beneficial to our hobby. Making your aquascape with all ceramic rock and adding just one seed LR would save us then using tanks of all LR. Plus don’t forget ceramic can be made to be more pourus then LR if you use the right clay making it better at biological filtration once’s it’s established.

 

[reefwiser]

Back in the day Live rock you could pick up out of the water and water would run out of the rock fro 15 minutes. As real live rock is made of pieces of dead coral held together by coralline algae. An not an actual rock.

 

[TedsReef]

Hi Everyone. I'm a product design engineer and I've worked extensively with 3D printing over the last 7 years. The industry has come a long way. When I started, our 3D printer was $60,000 and took up a good portion of the room (this was an extremely high quality and accuracy printer).

Now, you can buy one for your home for under $1,000 (completely different method of printing than the industrial sized ones and much less accurate). This type of printing is called FDM and it's what is covered in OP's article. Basically, it melts plastic and then draws with it to form layers that stack on each other to form your final product. Despite what some people have mentioned about these being solid - most of the time they are not. To save on material beyond the specified wall thickness of the product, it will be hollow but have a honeycomb type fill. Odds are it's not going to be water-tight either so it will fill. You can add holes all over your structure as well if you wanted. There is also software out there to make your model "organic" - see the picture below of the organic Yoda I simply downloaded off the internet and printed. I think that structure has amazing surface area and would be great to host bacteria.

The Yoda was printed on a Makerbot. I suggest this brand for anyone that wants to make good quality prints at home. If you do end up looking into 3D printing, make sure you research the material you use for being reef-safe (I haven't researched this topic at all). Only buy high quality material - you don't want anything leaching out of the plastics. The sharks teeth were printed on the same machine. The Batman bust was printed on a different machine that uses a method called SLA (shoots a laser into a liquid to solidify it and builds layers that way).

I think 3D printing and Computer Aided Design of aquariums will eventually offer complete customization. You can calculate and control: total surface area, volume displacement, conduct analysis on where shadows will be cast, add custom spots for coral plugs, flow analysis of your tank based on the features you add, and a lot more.