MatPat

In my introduction, I decide to include a little bit of how SWOAPE was started so it may be a little long

My name is Matt and I live in the Dayton, Ohio area. We moved back to Ohio in late 2004 after living in various areas of the country for the past 20 years. My last job prior to the birth of my first child was as a professional cabinet maker. Since it is hard to find an evening job working in a cabinet shop, I am now a stay-at-home Dad of two.

I have been into planted tanks for about 4 years now and into aquariums in general since the late 80's. I recently had 6 high tech planted tanks going but have downsized to three, after the birth of my daughter. I have two 75g tanks and a 50g tank planted right now along with two low tech 10g planted tanks.

When I moved to Dayton I found two others in the area via APC and Aquabid, Damon (Simpte 27) and Ken, who were interested in planted tanks and lived nearby. After talking with them, the three of us decided it would be a good idea to start a plant club to meet other enthusiasts. Since I didn't know too many folks from this area, I posted this thread on the Greater Cincinnati Aquarium Society (GCAS.org) site wondering if there was enough local interest to start a club.

Jack (Jack W.), Rob (rwoehr), Sean (ctmpwrdcamry), and probably a few others I am forgetting to mention decided it would be worthwhile to start up a plant only club. We held our first "meeting" in April of 2005 and SWOAPE was born. We now have nearly 30 members and seem to add a new member every month.