As our first birthday approaches, I thought I'd tell the story of how Dinkins Aquatic Gardens got started. My wife Ashley and I have talked about this a few times in interviews, but many people don't realize that we started this business entirely by accident.
In the summer of 2021, we moved from Louisiana to the DFW area because of some specialized services that our youngest son needed. During the move, we decided to convert our freshwater aquarium into a reef tank. Fast forward to early 2022, and I was learning about the benefits of phytoplankton for feeding corals, microfauna, and generally improving biodiversity. I started thinking of culturing phyto, but our life tends to get pretty crazy (with three kids and four dogs!) so I kept putting it off. One day a local fish store stayed open late because I had seen some coral on their website that I liked, but wouldn't be able to get there until after they closed. Ashley and I went to the store but didn't find what we were looking for. I felt bad leaving without buying anything since they had stayed open for us, so I went to the fridge and got two bottles of phytoplankton. They rang me up - $100 for both bottles!
Right then, I saw an opportunity. Could I culture phytoplankton and make a little extra money on the side?
Nah, probably not. I figured nobody would really be interested, and I'd just be starting a big project and making a huge mess. I reasoned that there were already companies that produce phytoplankton, so nobody would have any interest in buying from a local guy. Besides, I wasn't a marine biologist or anything like that - I was a history teacher. Why would anybody want to buy from me?
I wrestled with doubt for awhile, then one day I talked to a different LFS who agreed to buy any extra phyto that I made. So I decided to give it a go. Ashley was incredibly supportive, and thought it was awesome that I was doing science right there on the kitchen table! I converted a small closet to a phyto-producing station, all festooned with lights and aluminum foil reflectors, and started producing a couple dozen gallons. I listed the excess on Facebook Marketplace and on the selling forum here, while also selling my LFS everything he could move. One day the LFS owner told us that we really needed labels for our phytoplankton bottles. So we came home and Ashley designed our logo and phytoplankton labels, and created our Facebook page. She personally did all our branding by herself, in the course of a single hour!
After a month, enough people were asking about phyto (and copepods, which I started culturing) that I made a "quick and dirty" website one afternoon to simplify the order taking process. During this time we met some absolutely amazing people here and on Facebook (see the "Birthday Bash Giveaway" thread, where we are partnering with one of our earliest and biggest Facebook supporters). We eventually hired the amazing Donna Martinek of Eight Arms Marketing to create a professional-looking website for us, and went to our first shows (a Coral Farmer's Market near Dallas, and later Aquashella Dallas and RAP Dallas).
By the fall of 2022, Ashley and I realized that we had created an actual business. It turns out that we did have something to offer that our customers liked - we call it the Dinkins Difference. In short, we are dedicated to producing a superior product that will greatly benefit your tank, while providing world-class, concierge-level customer service to everybody. If you have a question, we'll answer you within an hour or less (although we usually stop manning the comms around midnight, we're back at it around 7 AM!). If you have a problem, we'll make it right. No questions asked, no hoops to jump through, no forms to fill out. Plus, Ashley personally hand-writes a card to every single customer, every single order. We truly appreciate you all, and we want to let you know how much you mean to us!
In the summer of 2021, we moved from Louisiana to the DFW area because of some specialized services that our youngest son needed. During the move, we decided to convert our freshwater aquarium into a reef tank. Fast forward to early 2022, and I was learning about the benefits of phytoplankton for feeding corals, microfauna, and generally improving biodiversity. I started thinking of culturing phyto, but our life tends to get pretty crazy (with three kids and four dogs!) so I kept putting it off. One day a local fish store stayed open late because I had seen some coral on their website that I liked, but wouldn't be able to get there until after they closed. Ashley and I went to the store but didn't find what we were looking for. I felt bad leaving without buying anything since they had stayed open for us, so I went to the fridge and got two bottles of phytoplankton. They rang me up - $100 for both bottles!
Right then, I saw an opportunity. Could I culture phytoplankton and make a little extra money on the side?
Nah, probably not. I figured nobody would really be interested, and I'd just be starting a big project and making a huge mess. I reasoned that there were already companies that produce phytoplankton, so nobody would have any interest in buying from a local guy. Besides, I wasn't a marine biologist or anything like that - I was a history teacher. Why would anybody want to buy from me?
I wrestled with doubt for awhile, then one day I talked to a different LFS who agreed to buy any extra phyto that I made. So I decided to give it a go. Ashley was incredibly supportive, and thought it was awesome that I was doing science right there on the kitchen table! I converted a small closet to a phyto-producing station, all festooned with lights and aluminum foil reflectors, and started producing a couple dozen gallons. I listed the excess on Facebook Marketplace and on the selling forum here, while also selling my LFS everything he could move. One day the LFS owner told us that we really needed labels for our phytoplankton bottles. So we came home and Ashley designed our logo and phytoplankton labels, and created our Facebook page. She personally did all our branding by herself, in the course of a single hour!
After a month, enough people were asking about phyto (and copepods, which I started culturing) that I made a "quick and dirty" website one afternoon to simplify the order taking process. During this time we met some absolutely amazing people here and on Facebook (see the "Birthday Bash Giveaway" thread, where we are partnering with one of our earliest and biggest Facebook supporters). We eventually hired the amazing Donna Martinek of Eight Arms Marketing to create a professional-looking website for us, and went to our first shows (a Coral Farmer's Market near Dallas, and later Aquashella Dallas and RAP Dallas).
By the fall of 2022, Ashley and I realized that we had created an actual business. It turns out that we did have something to offer that our customers liked - we call it the Dinkins Difference. In short, we are dedicated to producing a superior product that will greatly benefit your tank, while providing world-class, concierge-level customer service to everybody. If you have a question, we'll answer you within an hour or less (although we usually stop manning the comms around midnight, we're back at it around 7 AM!). If you have a problem, we'll make it right. No questions asked, no hoops to jump through, no forms to fill out. Plus, Ashley personally hand-writes a card to every single customer, every single order. We truly appreciate you all, and we want to let you know how much you mean to us!
