Tell us about yourself: 

I often state that I am "Older than the Cretaceous " and there is some meaning to this. My real name is Bill Wing and I have been involved in this hobby one way or another since 1967 and I'm pushing 60 years old. I first became interested in this hobby back then when taking classes from one of my mentors, Dr Blanchard Krogstad, Professor of Invertebrate Zoology at UMD. I was caretaker of marine invertebrates. I spent 5 years at UMD majoring in Geology and Zoology, with interests in chemistry, although never graduating. I hoped to become a Pleistocene Geologist but Uncle Sam had other things in mind for me.

In 1971 I joined the US Army, where I became an Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician. I was an Honor Graduate in all 3 schools I attended. Most of my active duty was spent in southern Germany, where I excelled in my field and received special awards. I was one of the led Bomb Techs, during the rein and terror of the famous Baader-Meinhof Gang, in the early 70's. After returning home I attended UMD briefly, again only to take up a job for US Steel, at their iron ore plant, where I will be retiring from on May 28th of 2006. I am a member of 4 professional explosive societies, to include the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators (IABTI).

How did you get involved in the saltwater hobby?

I continued my interests in the hobby throughout the late 70's to late 90's and in the 90's decided I had enough of the active part of the hobby. During the 80's I did a lot of work for a number of aquarium companies and was a constant consultant to Albert Thiel of Thiel Aquatech, a well know grandfather to this hobby. I have helped in the design of a number of different types of equipment and was on of the pioneers in the use and application ozone. Most of my livestock was inverts, specializing in Tube Anemones and how to successfully raise them with new techniques and methods . I have kept them alive for close to 15 years, to include many fish for similar duration, especially Copper Banded Butterflyfish. None of my systems are what I would call real reef tanks but somewhere in-between a reef tank and a LR-Invert tank. Long ago, I set forth the use of LR as a single source of filtration, no trickle filter required, something few people understood. I was told I was nuts.

Tell us about your tank 

I don't currently run a tank but at the time I always had between 5-10 tanks.

How did you become involved with Reef Frontiers? 

When I left the hobby in the 90's I got my first computer and wondered was there such a thing as a reef forum. A friend introduced me to News groups, where I found RAMR. I posted on RAMR for years, along with the likes of Craig Bingman and Charles Delbeek. At this time, that is where everyone was. A RAMR'er introduced me to Reef Central, where for the last few years I spent most of that time on Randy Holmes-Farely 's Reef Chemistry Forum. Shortly there after I was voted to a RC Team Member. I also helped start Reef Sanctuary, where I will soon be working on, once I retire, a new extensive Hitchhiker ID link. I have spend much of my time on Reef Frontiers, because of my old friends Mojo & Nikki and The Reef Tank, because of my old evil twin Bomber.

What is your reef keeping philosophy? 

Be willing to change with the times, as new and better methods appear and reefkeeping is better understood. But don't loose sight, that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

What is your dream tank? 

The Great Barrier reef in my living room. Ok, at least part of it.

Do you have any advice for others? 

Read and learn. My library is on the order of $20,000 in books on this hobby or indirectly related to this hobby. Listen to others that have experience and have already learned from their mistakes. Spend more time doing your own searches on questions that you have, you may find and learn a lot more than a short answer you get and surprise yourself. Be very cautious of claims by manufactures. There are a lot of useless products out there or those that have exaggerated claims, so be careful. And remember, every forum or news group always has its Troll.