Bill Ridgway started his love of aquatics with saltwater aquariums. In the early 70’s, he was in the construction business, when he visited a large aquarium in Baltimore. He fell in love with all the beautiful and graceful salt –water fish, and started his own aquarium in 1974. It didn’t take long before he realized how difficult maintaining perfect water quality could be! He enjoyed all the different aspects of keeping healthy fish, and became a real expert in filtration. Out of persistence and research, he got involved with commercial filtration systems and tried to apply that knowledge to his hobby. He slowly became a resource of information on filtration, and ended up knowing more than most of the saltwater aquarium gurus.
He was asked to do a commercial installation, and also started leasing out some of his salt-water tanks. He agreed to do tank maintenance for several local businesses. Through his construction business, which took him to multi-million dollar homes doing custom trim work and carpentry, he gained more clients. One home had a very poor condition salt-water tank, which he was offered to refurbish. Because the client was a very well known personality and held many dinner parties, Bill’s work to make the owner’s aquarium a show piece soon brought him even more customers. By the early 1980’s, he had dozens of commercial quality tanks that he had installed and was doing maintenance for – part time! Some of the aquariums that he installed in the 70’s are still up and running well today!
In 1983, Bill was involved in a serious motorcycle accident that nearly cost him his life. This turned out to be the thrust he needed to start his own business full time in the saltwater aquarium industry. As he could no longer work at his construction job, he became even more serious about his salt-water influence with the hobby. While visiting a local aquarium shop around Washington DC, he met his future wife, Laurie. She had already been in the aquarium industry for almost 20 years, and when they married, they decided to go into business doing large commercial aquarium installations and service contracts.
They got a contract to install a large commercial aquarium in one of the largest pet shops in the DC area, and that became the source of their best advertising. Every tank that they installed had a brass plaque with their contact information, and the potential clients came tumbling in. By 1990, Bill maintained over 150 high-end aquariums. The largest was over 2000 gallons, and all were high-tech acrylic tanks and used commercial filtration. The Ridgways became the premier experts for tank installation and maintenance in hospitals, restaurants, and lawyer and doctor offices in and around the DC metropolitan area. In 1991, Bill was tired of all the travel involved in maintaining all the tanks, and got an excellent offer to sell the business. He sold the business, but realized that he already had all the needed equipment in his basement to open a high-end aquarium shop. In 1992, Bill and Laurie decided to open a retail shop called Aquatic Creations Ltd.
Bill was already importing expensive salt-water fish for his clients, and holding them in tanks for quarantine. He decided to expand the importation and distribution components of the company. By that time, between he and his wife Laurie, they had over 70 years of combined experience in the business of keeping perfect water. Meanwhile, in 1985, Bill became involved with his first pond. Many of his high-end patrons had both aquariums and ponds. He quickly realized that most of the problems with the ponds he encountered involved the lack of adequate filtration. He wondered if he could put to use his extensive knowledge of aquarium filtration to improve the ponds. He started to design and install his own filter systems, and built his first Koi pond in 1986. He understood that bigger was always easier and his first pond was over 5000 gallons.
In 1987, Bill became involved with a company called Patio Ponds. He worked with several of the filtration designs and soon became a distributor for the company. Patio Ponds was the first company to commercially produce pond filters in the USA. Patio Ponds flourished, and Bill did very well financially in selling their products. In 1994 the management of Patio Ponds was having several production problems. The opportunity came to purchase the company in its entirety in 1994. Bill decided it was a golden chance to be nationally involved in his love of ponds. Bill purchased the company in late 1994. Since then, he has been responsible for designing and manufacturing private label filtration products for nearly every large company involved with ponds and water gardening. Patio Ponds have now satisfied over 80,000 wholesale and retail customers. They strive to make sure that each product is designed correctly for its intended application. They offer a conditional lifetime warranty on many of their products that is yet to be matched by other manufacturers in the industry.
Right now, Bill has a very complicated life as the owner of three aquatic companies. Aquatic Creations Ltd. is still a retail store that specializes in salt-water aquariums and premium water garden supplies. Patio Ponds Ltd. manufactures and distributes filters and pond hardware to a wholesale clientele and Creative Aquatics Inc. does the installation and maintenance of fresh and salt-water aquariums. Bill is also the owner of four web sites. They are www.patioponds.com, www.aquaticcreationsltd.com, www.amerikoi.com and www.pondsmart.com. Several of the sites are in the developmental stages but he says to check them occasionally for the latest updates. While the pond business is 80% of the income – it is seasonal, and it is the aquarium business that allows Bill to keep his workers busy year-round.
Bill has designed Koi ponds and commercial aquariums for senators, congressmen, and for Camp David! It is his unique blend of experience that started with the hardest fish to keep that makes his advice so sought after. Bill always smiles when he says that if you are killing Koi (which are one of the easiest fish to keep) you really have problems! He has personally cared for some salt-water fish that are now over 25 years old, and are truly magnificent! He loves all his customers that really care about the quality of life for the fish.
In 1986, Bill was buying his Koi from the West Coast. His 4-car garage was full of Koi while his basement was full of salt-water fish. He knew Koi were easy to keep and worked hard to offer good Koi to pet shops. After a year or so, he realized that the quality of the Koi was just not as high as he wanted, and got his permit from the US Department of Fish and Wildlife to import Koi in 1987. At first, he kept large and remarkably beautiful fish in his own private collection, as there were few customers willing to pay the high prices. In 1992 when he opened the retail store, Koi had gained enough popularity to warrant 50% of the floor space for display. More people were able to enjoy his exquisite, large fish, and Bill gained the notoriety for acquiring and selling superb Koi. At the AKCA Koi show in Baltimore in 1994, Mag Noy of Israel approached Bill. They wanted Bill to become a US distributor for their Koi, and Bill decided to give it a try and bought his first shipment of Israeli Koi. Unfortunately, he was unhappy with the quality of the fish, so Mag Noy gave him the shipment at a major discount. Mag Noy then offered to send Bill on an all expense paid trip to Israel to inspect their facilities and to answer any questions, or doubts, he might have on their Koi production. Bill was truly impressed! He saw incredibly high densities of high-quality Koi in 100’s of ponds. There was everything from healthy, medium-quality Koi to special show quality individuals. Bill was convinced that Mag Noy was doing it right, and became a Mag Noy distributor. By 1996, Bill became one of the largest distributors of Koi in the US, and in 1997, he imported an equivalent to over 1800 Japanese boxes of Koi.
Then in 1998, Mag Noy was hit with KHV. The Israeli government and their Ministry of Agriculture (which regulates the ornamental fish industry) immediately shut down exportation and rapidly tried to resolve the problem. As the Israeli’s also produce Koi (carp) as food fish, the government started to pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into research on this catastrophic event. They were the first ones to classify the disease, and while it is still called Koi Herpes Virus, it turns out that with further research they have discovered that it is not actually a Herpes virus. The implication involves the concern that Herpes can lie dormant in a host and reappear any time the host is stressed or meets certain conditions. If the disease is not in the Herpes family, then there are fewer apprehensions about the exposed fish being carriers of the disease.
The Israeli’s developed a system of inoculation for all baby Koi using a live virus vaccine that would then protect the Koi from KHV for life. The reason that the vaccine is not available in other countries, even though the Israeli’s have shared their technology, is because of laws concerning a live-virus vaccine. Thus far, only the Israeli’s are using the vaccine. Certainly there are loses by injecting every Koi being produced in Israel, but so far, all studies have shown that these fish remain immune to KHV. Bill has personally been mixing the Israeli Koi with his own Koi for the over 6 years, and so far, not one of his Koi or any of his customers fish have developed KHV.
The Japanese, meanwhile, took advantage of the KHV concern, and insisted that only the Israeli Koi had the disease. In order to prove that their Koi are not developing KHV, the Israeli’s developed a marker gene for their vaccine. Any Koi that later dies of KHV can be tested to see if it has the marker gene. While the program was only introduced in 2005, so far, none of the Israeli Koi with the marker gene have been reported to have died of KHV. While the sale of Israeli Koi diminished for a period, the demand is now again on the increase. Bill has found that his customers demanding good Koi are not necessarily tied to only buying Japanese Koi. If a healthy, beautiful fish is available at a fair price, the clients are not concerned where the fish came from. The health of the fish is the primary concern, and no other fish in the world come with the Mag Noy guarantee to be virus-free! Mag Noy completely dominates the European market and is possibly a larger producer than Japan. Mag Noy is currently promising to supply a larger quantity of top quality Koi for the discerning American market.
But Koi is just a piece of Bill’s business. Patio Ponds produces the very popular Little Sister Filter series, as well as the Vortex Cyclone series of 5 different sizes of vortex technology settling chambers. Vista Clear is another of Bill’s brands, and was introduced 4 years ago to become one of the best selling wet/dry multi-chamber filtration systems for small ponds and quarantine tanks. The Vista Clear filters ship in standard UPS boxes, and can cheaply be delivered throughout the United States. Bill is also a distributor for Matala, Hakko Air Pumps, Aqua Ultraviolet, Multi Duti Pumps, Pondmaster, Tetra, Firestone Pondguard Liner, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals as well as dozens of smaller companies.
To Koi clubs and Koi keepers alike, Bill teaches that beneficial bacteria want clear water. A multi-chambered filtration system has the highest level of biological activity. He recommends aerating the final chamber to achieve optimal bacterial colonization and that the true test of biological stability is to turn off your UV sterilizer. If the water stays clear than your biological support is adequate and your filter is working as it is intended to. Do not be fooled by the thought that clear water and swimming fish means that all is well and remember to test your water often. If you take care of the water the fish will take care of them selves.
The biggest problem Bill sees with the pond and Koi business is that there are no regulations established to govern the industry. Individuals and even businesses have no recourse if the product they purchase does not perform up to the sellers’ expectations. People end up wasting their money on systems that do not work, and many folks either get out of the business or the hobby due to the frustration of constant poor water quality and fish deaths. Bill advises folks to get as much unbiased information from as many people with extensive experiences that are not trying to sell them a product!
Bill’s favorite job was his work for Camp David! He loves seeing beautiful fish in healthy ponds on client’s properties all over the country. He has recently sold Koi to the Clintons, as well as many famous movie stars. As far as a favorite fish, Bill jokes that his favorite fish is a sold fish! He has moved and does not currently have a personal Koi pond, but finds he is drawn to the unique beauty in many fish that defy the Japanese classification system. Bill quips that beauty doesn’t have to have a name to be appreciated!
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