My interest with keeping tropical fish began at an early age growing up near the Florida Everglades in South Florida. With a bucket and net in hand, I would often spend entire afternoons with my brother, wading through alligator and snake infested waters in search of freshwater tropical fish for our small aquarium at home. As I grew older, my attention gravitated to the marine aquarium hobby. The fish were more colorful than freshwater varieties and the amount of invertebrates available were interesting and fascinating to me.

I began exploring the shallow coastal tidal pools and protected shorelines of the Atlantic Ocean , collecting marine tropicals for our home aquarium. About the time when reef aquariums and live rock began to gain in popularity, I was now living on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The fish weren’t as colorful; the water not as clear, but something else was abundant. Marine macro algae were growing everywhere!  The warm tropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida are full of a wide array of fascinating and colorful marine algae. Like many other hobbyists in the early 80’s, most of my interest was with growing various species of hardy Caulerpa. I soon however, began experimenting with growing other more colorful and challenging varieties including both brown and red algae.

My first attempts at culturing marine macro algae were marked with some frustration and failure, but I continued learning and experimenting until I was able to successfully maintain several species in the home aquarium. I was once told by a reputable pet store owner that macro algae couldn’t be grown. He had tried it and was unable to keep it alive for any great period of time.