About Us

Established in 2004 Reef Builders covers the aquatics industry for reef keeping and has been featured by CNN, MSNBC and Wikipedia as a definite source.

Shawn Hale, Managing Partner
Shawn has 25 years of professional experience in both fresh and saltwater. He spent nearly a decade working at one of the country’s largest LFS’s specializing in saltwater aquarium builds and custom installations. He has also accumulated over a decade of experience working on the manufacturing side of the industry creating products for hobbyist all over the world. Shawn was an early adopter in using content creation and used social media platforms to spread education about the aquarium hobby to consumers around the globe. Shawn was the Founder of Aquashella and Co-Owner of the concept from its beginning in 2018 to 2024 when he left to focus on growing Reef Builders and creating Aquarium Builders.

Rob Mougey, Managing Partner
Rob is a lifelong aquarist, having setup his first ‘reef’ following George Smit’s articles in FAMA. He’s still a die hard fish guy, where corals provide the backdrop for the angels and butterflies. Rob was an ardent supporter of MACNA, having attended over 25 annual events, including managing MACNA 2014 in Denver. He then spent over 5 years as MASNA VP, stepping down in 2020. With over 3000 logged dives, the beauty of the underwater world continues to fascinate him. Today Rob is responsible for managing Reefstock and overseeing the Reefbuilders Studio.

Raj Shingadia, Managing Partner
Raj brings 20 years-plus of industry experience in aquarium maintenance, fabrication, design, and implementation as well as industrial sales and marketing leadership skills. He hopes to honor Reef Builders’ late co-owner and managing editor Jake Adams by continuing Adams’ highly regarded enthusiasm for the hobby and implementing changes aligned with his vision.

Evie Hale, Senior Field Reporter
Evie started keeping aquariums at the age of 8, learning the old-fashioned way, without the internet, and devoting countless hours to reading all the books and articles she could find in the public library on the subject. She was keeping saltwater at the age of 20. Also, she managed a small pet franchise in Kansas, before gaining more than 10 years of experience in running and owning a saltwater-only fish store, including moving the store location.

Salem Clemens, Senior Writer & Editor
Salem handles the responsibility of managing the Reefbuilders Studio while also investigating the frontiers of reef keeping. Having recently graduated with a BS in Marine Science, Salem applies his practical education to exploring new pathways in maintaining aqua biomes, systems and new approaches in coral husbandry. As the Senior Writer, Salem works with the content development team on the Reefbuilders blog as well as Reef Therapy.

Jake Adams, Co-founder
Jake Adams was an avid marine aquarist since the mid-90s and worked in the retail side of the marine aquarium trade for more than ten years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Marine Science and was the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com from 2008 – 2022. Jake was interested in every facet of the marine aquarium hobby from the concepts to the technology, rare fish to exotic corals, and his interests are well documented through a very prolific career of speaking to reef clubs and marine aquarium events, and writing articles for aquarium publications across the globe. His primary interest was in corals which Jake pursued in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.

Ryan Gripp,  Founder
Ryan founded Reef Builders in 2004.