A local firefighter/paramedic and a nurse turn their passion to help people into a business to improve the waterways and help Florida wildlife.

Sebring residents Robert Seeber, who has been a firefighter/paramedic with Palm Beach Fire Rescue for 22 years, and his wife Stephanie, who is a registered nurse with a bachelor of science degree in nursing, have owned and operated SF Aquatics, LLC in Highlands County for the past three years. They offer chemical free, mechanical harvesting of invasive aquatic plants which in simpler terms is “removal of weeds from the waterfront with a machine,” Robert said.

The Seebers researched ways to provide a better service to clean lakefronts and Robert discovered the Weedoo, an aquatic weed removal equipment. He connected with a guy in Georgia who was operating a similar business and decided to start it here in Highlands. He purchased his own Weedoo and named it “MamaSeebs” after his wife. SF Aquatics has a special meaning as well with the SF standing for Seeber Family.

This aquatic machine requires biobased, biodegradable fluids further protecting bodies of water from a hazardous spill. It is equipped with a variety of attachments to tackle the most challenging fresh water plant invasions such as hydrilla, torpedo grass, cattails, duck potato and duck weed to name a few.

After mechanically removing the weeds, SF Aquatics uses scheduled treatments of microorganisms, or microbes, to enhance the water quality, eliminate organic waste matter, improve the environment for aquatic life and plants, and more in a non-chemical, environmentally friendly way. The microbes, a natural, beneficial bacteria are provided by Ecolab out of Cape Coral and SF Aquatics is certified in handling those products.

“Microbes will eat 12 to 14 inches of muck in a year,” Robert said.

SF Aquatics offers various services in addition to weed removal and microbes treatments. They do dredging; create custom “lakescaping,” decorative stonework and fish ponds; landscape/shoreline timber boarders; sand importing; shoreline restoration; and tree removal along and near the shoreline.

“We took a chance on this business,” Robert said. “I’m all about being unique.”

It was a risk that has paid off for the Seebers. They have developed a very successful business by starting off with a few accounts and now they have 500 customers in Highlands County and statewide. Their more steady contracts include maintaining Placid Lakes and Sun ‘N Lakes in Lake Placid and a golf course in Parkland.

The Weedoo operator Raymond Carter, who has lived in the Frostproof area for 20 years coming from Miami, has been with the Seebers from the beginning.

“It’s one of a kind. I was afraid of it at first,” Carter said of the Weedoo. “It’s like operating a zero-turn lawn mower on water.”

When Carter is slinging mud with the machine, there are a few snakes that pop up on the deck but they quickly disappear and the alligators tend to leave him alone. “I think the gators and snakes are more afraid of the machine,” he admitted.

While the men handle most of the physical labor, Stephanie and her sister Valerie Cobb, both originally from Wauchula, take care of the business operations. Cobb, a former food service worker with a bachelor of arts degree in business, is the office manager and handles marketing. But, Stephanie admitted that they have slung their fair share of mud and weeds too.

“I love to see the transformations and excitement from our customers when a project is finished,” Cobb said. “Our boat can do days of work in hours.”

“My wife is the brains of the operation and I am the brawns,” said Robert, who was born and raised in Lake Placid.

The Seebers set up the business so Stephanie owns the biggest portion of it. This allows them to qualify as a minority business. They are fully insured and registered with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Robert explained that the infestations of hydrilla poses a serious ecological threat and can be harmful to fish populations.

According to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, they “consider hydrilla to be an invasive, non-native aquatic plant that can, at high densities, adversely impact native plant abundance, sportfish growth, recreational use, flood control, and dissolved oxygen.”

In addition to hydrilla, the Seebers also remove torpedo grass, water hyacinth which also can be turned into an organic form of natural fertilizer.

Robert explained that they have a local farmer who uses the weeds to put nutrients back in the soil. “Bobby Hartman, who owns a caladium farm, will use the hydrilla to till in the ground to enrich the soil,” he said.

Besides enriching soil, Stephanie researched another way to make use of all the hydrilla and weeds harvested from the lakes. They donate the vegetation to local zoos to feed the manatees. They remove a lot of hydrilla and water hyacinth from local lakes and both of these plants are “highly nutritious for manatees,” she said.

“There are only 13,000 manatees globally,” Stephanie claimed. “Being a nurse, I wanted to help our environment.”

Zoos that provide rehabilitation care for manatees, typically feed them cabbage and lettuce but before they can be released back into the wild their diet has to be supplemented with natural plants such as hydrilla and water hyacinth that the Seebers provide.

They load up fresh plants and deliver them to Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park, The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in Bradenton and Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

Stephanie and Cobb started Fresh Pride, a sister company of SF Aquatics ran by sisters. They are currently working with the Department of Agriculture and other agencies to get established as a non-profit organization.

“I want to be different and stand out,” Stephanie said about her cause.

“Fresh Pride Inc. was one of the three produce companies owned by our family which closed its doors in the 1990s,” Stephanie explained. “My dad, Donald Cobb, and his family have been produce farmers dating back at least six generations. My sister and I took this name and formed Fresh Pride, LLC, ‘a sister company’ to SF Aquatics.”

Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. They can be reached by email at sfaquatics@icloud.com or call 863-414-2028.