What got you in to this hobby? How long have you been doing it?

[TimT]

My first tank was in the late 70's. A 27 gallon with an undergravel filter with dolomite and crushed oyster shell as substrate. Airstones in the lift tubes as powerheads weren't around yet. Lost the tank due to the Ebo Jaeger heater cooking it to 95°f. Tank cooled and then fish broke out with ick. Mom secretly added some IO salt mix directly to the tank as the fish looked sick. Needless to say total wipe out. Got into freshwater and then into Killifish and then back into saltwater in the mid 80's. Late 80's I was commercially culturing Cauplerpa paspaloides. I was also growing some wild looking green, blue and magenta Rhodactis. I would trade them to Petland in Langley for fish and supplies. In 1996 I was in Vietnam(Nha Trang) discussing with the Director of Fisheries about how to use aquaculture to retrain fishermen for a new livelihood. They had over fished the fish stocks to beyond recovery. 3 years later I quit the Aid organization and transitioned into SeaCare full time. SeaCare is actually an acronym for Sustainable Economic Advancement through Coral And Reef Enhancement. It was initially started as a platform to directly sell farmed corals/seahorses from Vietnam. That is why Seacare uses a .org address. It's been an interesting journey!!!