Customer Reviews

The Coral Reef Aquarium: An Owner's Guide toa Happy Healthy Fish (Happy Healthy Pet)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Coral Reef Aquarium is a key-fact oriented primer on modern reef system dynamics. Main sections include "Understanding the Coral Reef," "The Environment," and "The Organisms." The concentration on equipping the aquarist with a conceptual framework from which to base their pursuit rather than the more typical emphasis on equipment renders the book valuable for readers at any level. I especially liked chapters on "An Artificial Ecosystem" (where life on the reef is contrasted with life in the tank) and "Material and Energy Flow" (which traces events from the food through all plant and critter life).

Dr. Ron Shimek's style is blunt, to the point, and hard hitting. Where most "beginner" books are written by well studied practitioners, Shimek's book is written for beginners by a biology instructor / scientist. The facts are behind a few unconventional recommendations that liven the well presented material further. Clearly Shimek is on a mission to remove our hobby from the erroneous recommendations earlier books for beginners served up generously. For it's brevity (only 126 pages) and low price it's a 5 star book. I'm rating it 4 stars not because the work isn't excellent, it is, but because I feel the beginner's needs are incredibly broad and it's simply impossible answer the myriad of questions and concerns in 125 pages. Then again, I have yet to see a beginner's book that does.

I fell into reef aquarium ownership almost overnight. I didn't know what I was getting into and bought an established 140 gallon tank with rocks and fish. The second hand tank had been neglected and there were only 3 surviving fish and the rock didn't look too healthy. I had no idea what I was headed into and I bought and killed a number of beautiful, expensive fish out of total ignorance.

This book would have not only saved me a lot of money, but a lot of headache, heartache and trips to the local fish store.

Dr. Shimek includes tips on inexpensive ways to equip the hardware and contents w/o spending an arm and a leg on overpriced items at the store. He tells you what animals to avoid (especially for beginners) and which ones are must-haves.

For a beginning book, it is packed w/ info in just over 125 pages and in a very affordable package. Most aquarium books are VERY expensive and you'll never read the whole thing.

I read this book in about 2 weeks (I work full time and I'm a slow reader) by taking it with me during my lunch hour and it has already saved me hundreds of dollars in items/livestock I was considering on purchasing.

My only criticism is the lack of photos of critical things the author was citing. There are tons of high quality photos in this book, but some creatures were mentioned that I would have like to have seen represented in a photo and still have no idea what the author was talking about.

The author does assume some knowledge in some areas where it seems he may have forgotten his audience. Had I not already dealt w/ some issues during my "baptism by fire" experience of learning the hard way for months before buying this book, I wouldn't have understood some of the concepts he brought up.

This book was one of the best purchases I've made in regards to aiding my hobby. Thank you, Dr. Ron!

Simplifies the level of care needed. Many tips, do's and dont's I never knew before, because Shimek's way is inexpensive. Pet store salesmen have complicated the process and are in too much of a hurry to sell you this and that. Most of the advice I've received from pet store owners have killed my animals.... and this book will explain why! Let your reef tank take care of itself..... what a concept! It makes sense, and several months after buying this book, I haven't had any problems whatsoever, and my anenomes and corals have tripled in size! Thank you, Thank you Ron Shimek!

i've read SO many books on this subject while trying to learn what i need, and this is by FAR the best one. all of the books for beginners say a little about fish, a little about history, a very little about necessary equipment...before reading this book i found more questions than answers. this book answers those questions. dr. ron is specific about the chemistry of keeping a tank, the equipment needed, what these animals need in terms of feeding and care to stay alive and healthy. he answers questions you didn't know you had, and makes it clear. this is a MUST READ for those interested in marine tanks.

After reading Dr. Ron's book and reading his articles online as well as other authors (Sprung & Delbeek, Tullock, Fenner, Bornemen, among others), I found Dr. Ron's ideas about reef keeping sound and effective. After doing much research (and failing at a small reef tank), I decided to put his ideas to practice and started my first, large scale aquarium (large for me is a 37 gal mini reef!).

Armed with a 6" deep sandbed, intense lighting, lots of water movement, a refugium, and medium skimming, I started adding dozens of micro and mini organisms to my tank. With minimal effort on my part, the corals, fish, and all the other inverts are doing very well. Problem algae is almost a non-issue (after 4 months). The only chores I have are topping off, cleaning the skimmer cup, and feeding.

This system really does take care of itself! Dr. Ron's extensive research has really shown me how to keep a reef tank looking and doing great!

By the way, I have several dozen bristle worms of various sizes and sub-species in my 37 gal and none of my corals have been damaged by them or any of the other critters Dr. Ron suggests putting in your tanks.

I was disappointed by this book.

For one thing, this is a very small book. It has only about 100 pages on a 4 X 8 size paper. And most of it is occupied by photos. But I also have to accept the fact that this book is much cheaper pricewise than the other comprehensive books out there such as the one by John Tullock.

So in view of its shortness, the subject of coral reef keeping is not covered comprehensively. There is very little in depth explanation of the equipment and the biology of the hobby. As a rough comparison, most of the other coral keeping guides are more than 400 pages long.

Coral reef keeping is an advanced subject (as opposed to marine fish keeping), and the equipment are varied, from lights, filtration, skimmers, chemical additives, chillers, etc. Each of these subjects is covered in a couple of paragraphs, as opposed to pages.

A beginner will not have enough advice to start a new tank error-free, while a more advanced hobbiest will not be satisfied with its simple explanations.

There are much better books out there.

I first bought this book because of the author. When I recived it and thumbed through the pages I concluded that it was a book for beginners. In any case, since I had already spent 11 bucks I thought what the heck, if I could get at least one good idea out of it it will be worth the time and money.

I was delighted to find the clearest explanations I've ever read on aquariun systems. I have a much better understanding now. I also picked up some very useful tips.

Fantastic book. Very clear, easy to understand but detailed explantions of complex systems.

I have read several books on reef keeping and found this book to be very informative and to the point for setting up and understanding the basics of running a modern day reef. I recomend this book to all my friends that are thinking of getting into reef keeping and fish only tanks also.

This was the first book I've purchased as I was recommended by various hobbyist whom I have lots of respect for. When I started reading this book, first thing I told myself "Wow, how little I knew". I would highly recommend anybody who is getting started with Reef Hobby. Dr Ron is not only an experienced (PhD) Marine Biologist, but an active participant/contributor in various related Forum, Magazine and so on.

On a different note, I would like to respond to the reader from Kingston, MA. Bristle Worms are your friend :p . They are mostly scavengers and will be a great member of your cleanup crew. There are some cases where aquarist found bristle worm gorging on their favorite fish, but the truth behind that almost always is, your fish died of other reason and Bristle Worm really doing its job, cleaning it up for you. If you have a super huge Bristle Worm, you may or may not choose to relocate it. Happy Reefing.

This is a great book to ease your way into learning about the reef. It uses simple and scientific verbage to teach the basics about the coral reef. I love it, read it twice, and will read it again. :)