Let's have a warm welcome for Albert Thiel

[Stussi613]

We are very proud to have Albert Thiel on board here at OVAS. Many who have been around for a number of years are more than likely familiar with Albert through the number of books he has written:

1) The Marine Fish and Invert Reef Aquarium (over 50K copies sold and still in circulation)

2) Advanced Reefkeeping I

3) Advanced Reefkeeping II (was not published in print but was an online "subscription only" e-book, long before e-books were known as e-books)

3 )Small Reef Aquarium Basics - for smaller tanks and for beginner hobbyists

4) The New Marine Fish and Invert Reef Aquarium (not in print but published online only again as an e-book athttp://www.nmfira.com)

5) Nano-Reef Aquariums (currently in print and e-book form - OVAS has a copy in the library - available at http://www.nanoreefs.info)

6) The Marine Reef Newsletter - a monthly 16 to 24 page publication that ran for nearly 5 years and was also available in hardbound copy by year.

7) Numerous articles for FAMA and THF magazine, and also for foreign ones in French and Spanish

8 ) Many articles published in Aquarium Society Newsletters and other vehicles under the pen name "The Blackfriar" (tons of hobbyists at that time wondered who The Blackfriar was...Albert was and is The Blackfriar")

9) Frequent contributor at Nano-Reef.com with over 250,000 views and nearly 15,000 topics in his official thread.

Albert has spoken at far more Aquarium Society meetings than he can remember, including some in England, Germany, France and of course many many in the US, as well as several MACNA Conferences.

Albert has contributed to our hobby in so many ways, introducing techniques and products that were not in use in the North America at the time, and through his books exposing hobbyists to approaches of running saltwater and reef aquariums that were based on best practices used in other Countries (in Europe and the Far East), but also by bringing products and equipment to the market that were not commonly used in the hobby before he did so.

Albert was born in Belgium, came to the US in late 1979 where he worked for several years for large US aquatic companies before starting Thiel AquaTech in the mid 80's.

Thiel Aqua Tech was a cutting edge Company at that time and originated, or brought to the market, almost all of our modern supplements and equipment.  Thiel Aqua Tech was responsible for the very first trickle filters brought into North America (originally in glass but soon after that in acrylic) and introduced many products for the Marine hobby such as Liquid Gold, X-Nitrate, X-Phosphate, KSM, Iodine supplements, X-Silicate, and many many others.

The use of many modern supplements and techniques we use today were introduced by Thiel Aqua Tech and are used as they were, or were improved upon by others in the hobby, including : Sumps, Refugia, Skimmers and Reactors for all sorts of purposes e.g. KH ones and chemical filtration ones for carbon and other materials, and .... even Mangrove usage at a time no one had even heard of doing so. *

Based on his conversations with several German experts and Authors he also introduced the addition and use of Kalkwasser as one of the first companies to do so, if not the first.  His interactions with European authors and experts allowed him to not only bring UNorth American hobbyists up-to-date on what was happening overseas, but also to develop new products based on all the research he did (e.g. he was the first one to introduce phosphate removers and for those who remember FAMA Magazine introduced it with a stunning advertisement that showed an aquarium the font of which was covered in green algae, and a razor blade being scraped from top to bottom of the front glass to make clear opening ... and then underneath in the text asking: "is this the way you rid your tank of Algae" and suggesting that using X-Phosphate was a far better way to go. And it was .... nowadays what he introduced is still used but a new product has since also been introduced: Ferric oxide

In 1996 Albert sold the Company as well as the web site he ran for many many years (http://www.athiel.com).  Unfortunately the purchaser was not as successful as Albert and the company folded, however the site still contains a large amount of information in its various libraries that is sill applicable today.**

We are all pleased to have Albert here on OVAS as the "Go To Guy" for serious information and for any questions you may have.

So if you have any questions for him, this is the place to post them. Enjoy.

* The Thiel Aqua Tech website contains articles showing the use of many techniques from the 80's and 90's.

**Albert points out that by going to the main page of the site and on the top left clicking on the search button you can enter topics and usually find several articles or postings on that topic, some by Albert and some by other Authors or saltwater and reef experts.

[albertthiel]

Thanks for the Welcome and I will be glad to answers any questions members have (that is if I can) ... Glad to be on board and look forward to contributing what I can ....

Albert

[Nyx]

Welcome aboard, Albert, and thank you so much for helping the OVAS forum out!

[albertthiel]

Welcome aboard, Albert, and thank you so much for helping the OVAS forum out!

Thanks, I appreciate the kind words ...

Albert

[sas]

Hi  and welcome to the forum.
Great to have you on the site.

[albertthiel]

Hi  and welcome to the forum.
Great to have you on the site.

Thanks .... I appreciate the kind words and will help as best as I can ... Glad to be on board

Albert

[charlie]

I would like to offer my welcome & gratitude for helping our club.
Thank You.

[albertthiel]

I would like to offer my welcome & gratitude for helping our club.
Thank You.

Thank you for the welcome and whenever I can help I sure will

Albert

[ramblnpony]

We are very lucky here to have access to your wealth of knowledge Albert. Welcome aboard!

Best regards,

Frank

[albertthiel]

We are very lucky here to have access to your wealth of knowledge Albert. Welcome aboard!

Best regards,

Frank

Thank you kindly ... and when I can help I sure will

Albert

[fish]

I am absolutely gobsmacked. I read The marine Fish and Invert Reef Aquarium and Advanced Reef keeping cover to cover more than once when I first started in this hobby in the late 80s. In fact, in telling my wife I was amazed I was able to put my hands on both these books in about 2 seconds. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit our part of the world.

[albertthiel]

I am absolutely gobsmacked. I read The marine Fish and Invert Reef Aquarium and Advanced Reef keeping cover to cover more than once when I first started in this hobby in the late 80s. In fact, in telling my wife I was amazed I was able to put my hands on both these books in about 2 seconds. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit our part of the world.

You are most welcome and thanks for the kind words

Albert