Adrinal
4k gallons and growing!
I finally got my used amazon.com copy of the conscientious Marine Aquarist in the mail. Naturally I stayed up all night and read neerly all of it.
I just wanted to give a quick review of the books I have read so far:
The complete Book of the Marine Aquarium (CBMA) Vincent B. Hargreaves:
If I could keep only one of my books, this would be the one. It does not waist lengthy words on old systems and focuses on Berlin/jubart and benifits of LR.
This book was printed in 2002 and is the most up-to-date on the tech side of things (other than T-5 lighting). The species indexes are the best out of any book (other than perhaps the marine Fishes - pocketexpert guide scott w. Michael). CBMA covers everything from slugs to macro algea to fish to shrimps to corals. It is detailed to the species. (Big Hard cover book, found mine on sale ... probably most folks avoid the HC, but looks great on the coffie table
).
Natrual Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms (NRA) John Tullock. The begining setup portion of this book is slightly more detailed, but more confusing and not better IMO than CBMA. It does have some beautiful examples of real aquariums you could pattern yours off (very nice).
This book focusus on zoning... as in the FW world we have the African tank, or the Amazon basin tank or the Asian tank...
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist
This is the last book I have read. Obviously most everything in here is redundant. So let me tell you what I got out of the book myself. 1) the strongest desire to have a "sick tank" and a deeper understanding of how to use it. 2) a more indepth method of dipping new fellas. (guess it is the Conscientious tone hehe) Ironically It was the other 2 books that spent more time on saving our resources in nature.
Obviously the more books you can read the better. Unfortunatly most of these do not end up at the library, and purchacing becomes the only method of reading them. Most of the info is redundant, but redundancy and slight contrast can be good. If you can only afford one I would deffinatly get CBMA. Its live stock section is as good if not better than a book like Marine Fishes - Scott W. Michael (fish bible).
Getting no book is hardly an option at all, unless you have compiled your own from online sources. It is really a must to force your self to read cover to cover once and a while. Even the most experenced of us all need refreshers.
I just wanted to give a quick review of the books I have read so far:
The complete Book of the Marine Aquarium (CBMA) Vincent B. Hargreaves:
If I could keep only one of my books, this would be the one. It does not waist lengthy words on old systems and focuses on Berlin/jubart and benifits of LR.
This book was printed in 2002 and is the most up-to-date on the tech side of things (other than T-5 lighting). The species indexes are the best out of any book (other than perhaps the marine Fishes - pocketexpert guide scott w. Michael). CBMA covers everything from slugs to macro algea to fish to shrimps to corals. It is detailed to the species. (Big Hard cover book, found mine on sale ... probably most folks avoid the HC, but looks great on the coffie table
).Natrual Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms (NRA) John Tullock. The begining setup portion of this book is slightly more detailed, but more confusing and not better IMO than CBMA. It does have some beautiful examples of real aquariums you could pattern yours off (very nice).
This book focusus on zoning... as in the FW world we have the African tank, or the Amazon basin tank or the Asian tank...
The Conscientious Marine Aquarist
This is the last book I have read. Obviously most everything in here is redundant. So let me tell you what I got out of the book myself. 1) the strongest desire to have a "sick tank" and a deeper understanding of how to use it. 2) a more indepth method of dipping new fellas. (guess it is the Conscientious tone hehe) Ironically It was the other 2 books that spent more time on saving our resources in nature.
Obviously the more books you can read the better. Unfortunatly most of these do not end up at the library, and purchacing becomes the only method of reading them. Most of the info is redundant, but redundancy and slight contrast can be good. If you can only afford one I would deffinatly get CBMA. Its live stock section is as good if not better than a book like Marine Fishes - Scott W. Michael (fish bible).
Getting no book is hardly an option at all, unless you have compiled your own from online sources. It is really a must to force your self to read cover to cover once and a while. Even the most experenced of us all need refreshers.
