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Six fringing and one back reef were surveyed in Moorea, French Polynesia. Hard substrate at all reefs was dominated by turf algae.

At each site, measurement locations were determined using random points along a 50m transect. The transect was randomly placed along the benthos at a depth between 2-3m. A datasheet with prerecorded random numbers generated through R was brought with measurer. If a random point was along a sand flat, measurements were taken at the closest bommies. At each site measurements were taken at 20 random places. At each measurement location, a small 15cm x 15cm quadrate was used to delineate measurement area. Within each of these quadrats, 10 sediment depth measurements were recorded followed by 10 turf filament height measurements. All measurements were taken using a handmade measuring device. Our device was made using 1cm x 1cm galvanized mesh which had 10 notches calibrated by 1mm intervals.

A two-factor experiment (site and sediment depth) was conducted at two survey sites (Gump and Maharepa). At each site, sediment depth (0mm,1mm,3mm,and 5mm) was maintained atop of tiles seasoned for three months under the same conditions. Using a similar measuring device sediment additions were maintained every 4 days, and sediment removal was achieved using a slight wafting motion no more than 10cm above tiles to remove sediment but keeping algae in tact. Herbivory is a strong top-down controller of algal proliferation and since all tiles were exposed to herbivores, we conducted visual observations to quantify and qualify herbivores at each site using a belt-transect method.