Bill Chamberlain

Bill got his start in marine aquariums early in life by crawling into his Mom's tank of locally caught marine's as a toddler. This led to a lifetime as a confirmed beach bum and rabid aquarist keeping multitudes of marine critters in any container that could hold water. Since merely messing about around the waters' edge and looking into glass boxes wasn't enough, Bill obtained his SCUBA certification in 1983 and went on to Southampton College for a degree in Marine Biology.

As a hobbyist Bill has maintained a variety of aquaria, ranging from locally caught natives of the East Coast to tropical fish from around the globe. Having witnessed the evolution of filtration from the lowly box filter to live deep sand beds, he has found the natural methods of deep sand beds the best after witnessing the fauna of the live sand assimilate entire cans of fish food often dumped in by his young daughter. Professionally, Bill has been working in the aquarium industry for over a decade for a variety of retail stores ranging from small Mom and Pop shops to large chain stores. Currently, Bill runs a part-time business from home specializing in collecting (still a beach bum!) and culturing a variety of macroalgeas, live sand, detritivores and few other things as time and interest allow.

Bill is married and has an eight-year-old daughter that can't stay out of the water. The family enjoys snorkeling together in the Carribean and even allows Dad time to himself for SCUBA and his other hobby of underwater photography. Other members of the family include two Iguana's, a Water Dragon, Blue Tongue Skink and a Tokay Gecko.

On Reef Central, Bill moderates the SCUBA forum and co-moderates the Fish DiseaseTreatment and Fish Only & Aggressive Tanks forums.