About Us

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

Ryan Gripp,  Founder
Ryan founded Reef Builders in 2004.

Jake Adams, Managing Editor
Jake Adams has been an avid marine aquarist since the mid-90s and has 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 has been the managing editor of ReefBuilders.com since 2008. Jake is 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 is in corals which Jake pursues in the aquarium hobby as well as diving the coral reefs of the world.

Windsor Adams, Social Media Director
Windsor manages the social media team while ensuring Reefbuilders carries on the legacy of her late husband, Jake.

Raj Shingadia, Managing Director
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.

Jeremy Gay, Senior Editor
Jeremy is an award winning author, editor, and lifelong fishkeeper, with over twenty years in the marine aquatic sector. Author of three books: The Perfect Aquarium, Choosing the right fish for your aquarium, and Aquarium Manual: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Keeping Fish. Jeremy writes about all things aquarium related and shares his incredible passion and knowledge to Reefbuilders readers. His experience includes retail, wholesale, publishing, distribution, marketing, manufacturing, and livestock import. He loves the biology of marine ecosystems as well as marine equipment and tech.

Evie Hale, Show Manager and 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.

Remy Hoesly, Content Extraordinaire & Reef Therapy Host
Remy has been keeping aquariums, both fresh and saltwater, since the dial-up modem. He has been a professional radio personality for the last 20 years and has been heard on stations from St. Louis to Chicago and beyond. Remy shares – with complete transparency – his successes and failures in the hobby. His mission has always been to empower reef keepers to step outside their comfort zone and try new things.

Michael Paletta, Contributor
Mike has been keeping marine tanks since 1980 and reef tanks since the mid-1980s. During the past 40 years, he has written over 370 articles on reef tanks, marine fish, and invertebrates for both the US and Europe. His first book “The Modern Marine Aquarium” simplified marine fishkeeping for beginning hobbyists while at the same time incorporating advances that had been made due to reef keeping. His second book “Ultimate Marine Aquariums” illustrates how far the hobby had advanced during its first 15 years.

Michael has enjoyed speaking at over 300 marine societies, national conferences, and Zoom calls in North America, Canada, South America, and Europe. Michael has appeared on both local, national, and international radio shows to discuss the hobby and to help new hobbyists become successful. Michael has also done over 50 videos for American Reef and YouTube. Michael has B.S. from Dickinson College and a Master’s degree from Yale University. In 2022 Michael won the MASNA Award for his lifelong involvement in the hobby, and recently retired from the biotechnology industry.

Vincent Chalias, Contributor
Vincent is a coral passionate aquarist with extensive experience in the industry, travelling the world to learn about corals. His background is a master degree in Marine Aquaculture. He set up the first Indonesian Coral mariculture farms at the beginning of the century and spent over 20 years in Indonesia running them. He’s been extensively diving and documenting corals all over the Indo-Pacific.