The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, Vol. 1 [Hardcover]

Svein A. Fossa (Author), Alf Jacob Nilsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

This book provides a fascinating look at the natural history and evolution of coral reefs that forms the foundation for understanding reef ecology and its practical application in closed system aquaria. Beginners and experienced hobbyists will appreciate the wealth of information and beautiful illustrations. Special emphasis on reef construction, zoogeography, marine algae, and microbiology affords and invaluable tool for designing an ecologically responsible system. 650 high quality color photographs, numerous maps, tables, drawings, and diagrams. It is the bible of reef books in Europe!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3928819291
• ISBN-13: 978-3928819299
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,152,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good resource but hard to follow, September 24, 2000

By 

CQueen (Anywhere USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, Vol. 1 (Hardcover)

If you want a good read that takes you from how to set up a reef tank to what you can put in it, I'd recommend a different series: Delbeek and Sprung's "The Reef Aquarium" first.

A brief flip through the pages of this 3 volume series by Fossa and Nilsen wows you with its vast amount of information. But try to sit down and read it through or find anything on a specific topic and you can easily get lost.

On the plus side: lots of material on things you don't find elsewhere from what sort of things you might find on your live rock, particularly the often over looked microfauna, to a huge amount on crustaceans, with of course lots on hard and soft corals. The advice is sound and practical.

On the minus side: What is it with European aquarium books? Like most, the layout is cluttered and busy, busy, busy. It is often hard to follow the linear thread of topics, especially on the species factsheets which are tossed into the middle of multi-column text. That and other organizational issues made it hard for me to find information on specific topics. You are lost without the index and even then, the book is so comphrensive that you'll need to wade through 6 or 8 index references on most topics to find the information you want. Comprehensive, is all in all, a good thing but I find this book frustrating.

I'm a voracious reader and when it comes to reef aquarium books, I'll gladly read them 4 or 5 times to extract every last bit of information out of them. But this series left me disappointed. I only give it 4 stars because the information is vast and the authors are clearly knowledgable. I was tempted to give it less.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent guide to keeping reef aquariums!, July 3, 1998

By 

Thomas Smith (Bentonville, AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, Vol. 1 (Hardcover)

This book is an excellent guide to reef tank organisms and their upkeep. I bought this book after buying Delbeek & Sprung's and feel it is equal in quality. It goes into detail in areas such as water chemistry, algae, and ecosystems providing insight into valuable areas not covered in as much detail in D&S's book. A must have for serious reef aquarists.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb books with valuable biochemical information, December 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, Vol. 1 (Hardcover)

I don't agree with Connor at all. The pair of Nilsen & Fosse books are easily on par with the Delbeek & Sprung books. I would not want to be without any of them: The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium volumes 1 & 2 contain more specific and technical information for the advanced aquarist, while The Reef Aquarium Volumes 1& 2 are more directed toward animal husbandry. Terry Siegel, Senior Editor and founder of Aquarium Frontiers.