About Our Coral Farm
Tidal Gardens is a coral farm located in Copley, OH. Our goal is to offer the highest quality specimens possible with the most sustainable practices. At the coral farm we aquaculture a wide array of stony corals, soft corals, mushrooms, zoanthids, anemones, and gorgonians and ship them to reef aquarists all over the country. We primarily sell corals online however local visits to Tidal Gardens are possible by appointment.
The Aquaculture Facility
Tidal Gardens is made up of two buildings, the original greenhouse constructed in 2002 and a new state of the art facility that began construction in 2018. We are constantly experimenting with the systems and looking to improve the fine details to provide the best environment for both the corals and the professional aquarists that work here.
Tidal Gardens Podcast
In 2023 we created The Tidal Gardens Podcast. The Podcast's goal is to share in-depth information and stories from experts and industry insiders within the Reefing community. You can find a full listing of all the Podcast episode HERE.
A Bit of History
Tidal Gardens is a labor of love started by Than Thein. Growing up, Than was never allowed to have dogs or cats, but was allowed to have fish tanks. Over the years, that interest in fish tanks developed from 10-gallon freshwater aquariums to moderate-sized saltwater aquariums.
The hobby continued through college where he was successfully keeping coral reef aquariums. With that success came the realization that corals would quickly outgrow small aquariums and would have to be pruned to avoid aggression. The question became what to do with the cuttings? Initially, pieces were sold here and there or given to fellow hobbyists.
Once in business school, Than developed a business plan to determine whether the process of growing coral for sale could be successfully scaled up. At the time, coral aquaculture was NOT a widespread practice. This business plan helped finance the early years of development by winning business plan competitions. In 2004, the Tidal Gardens business plan won $2,000 in the University of Akron Business Plan Competition. The next year in 2005, the plan won the $30,000 grand prize in the COSE Northeast Ohio Business Plan Challenge.
The entrepreneurial journey to this point has been a great and rewarding adventure. Not only is it wonderful to have a warm tropical greenhouse in the cold Northeast Ohio winters to retreat to, there were chance meetings with some very large organizations that sought out our special expertise. In 2006, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) came calling requesting consulting on a coral special they were putting together and at one time even considered doing some of the filming in our greenhouse. In 2009, Thompson Reuters called requesting a license to some of the materials to be used in one of their future publications. In 2013 the Smithsonian asked to syndicate some of our videos and feature them on their new site, Encyclopedia of Life. Later that same year video footage from our YouTube channel was used in a digital aquarium exhibit at the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo, Norway. Tidal Gardens is a regular contributor to industry media outlets such as CORAL Magazine and Serious Reefs.
About the Founder
Than Thein is an entrepreneur with a background in biology, computer science, business, and law. He is a certified diver with a particular interest in underwater photography and videography.
As for education Than holds both a Masters of Business Administration and Juris Doctor from the University of Akron and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Michigan. Than is a licensed attorney and was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 2008.