The Story of How a Small Business, SaltwaterAquarium.com was Born! - My story started in April 2011, All I really wanted to do was to buy an Ecotech Marine MP40 Pump for my first saltwater aquarium. Why I'm not sure? But having the cord on the outside was super cool! My first saltwater tank was am Oceanic 42 hexagon that I still have today. The pump was like $400 back in 2011 and that was WAY WAY over my budget. I thought my better half would have killed me if I spent that much on a pump for my aquarium. So I called up Ecotech an opened a wholesale account. Back then not very many people were selling MP40’s and there were a lot less restrictions as to who could be a reseller. The guys at Ecotech were nice enough to give me a shot, so I bought three MP40 pumps. I put one on my tank and dropped the other 2 on eBay to make a quick buck. I had sold lots of golf clubs and some other collectibles on eBay in the past so I knew that pretty well. Little did I know what would happen next would change my life forever.
I went to work the next morning as normal. 9-5 in a 6’ by 6’ cubicle. I spent 15 years of my life in that cubicle in the end. It was a great job but I was inside all day on my butt. Growing up a dairy farmers son, I grew up with love for animals, the outdoors. The next day around lunch I got an eMail from eBay, “Ship your Products Now!” and I was like WAIT WHAT? Then I remembered, the pumps. So I rushed home at lunch packed them up on my lunch break and shipped them out.
Later that day I was just sitting there thinking, man that such a great feeling, so I bought six more pumps from Ecotech. Long story short, they sold over a weekend and I was hooked, line and sinker. Not only was I selling stuff I loved, it was fun and I was making a few bucks on the side. Plus I had a coolest fish tank around! From there I found the domain name saltwateraquarium.com up for auction and won the bid. Having a background in computer science and being a computer gaming dork all my life, World of Warcraft Retribution Paladin FTW, I found my new game and here we are now 11 years later. WOW. 11
We sold more yesterday (Black Friday 2022) then we did the entire first and second year in operation. That's JUST CRAZY! - 11 years and millions in sales later I’m doing what I love, showing that Small Business in America is live and well and helping our customers have really, really cool fish tanks. We are having fun and providing our customers a great service where they can get their aquarium supplies FAST and from a trusted source where they know if they have an problem we have their back.
Thank you for all of Your Support of the Last 11 Years! WOW 11Years. We simply WOULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT YOUR LOVE & SUPPORT! We owe you our customers everything.
Thanks,
Ken Brown (Owner)
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Watch - 10 Year Anniversary Video!