Customer Reviews

The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium, Volume 2 (v. 2)

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

 

 

I have read both of these book series (vol 1 and 2), and both are "the benchmark" books. You can't get bad data from either, but I think the D&S books (especially volume 2) are are a little disorganized, a little more "wanna be" marine biology journal articles (very stiff prose for a hobby book), and just a little less useful content. IMHO. :-) (please no flame wars).

Then again; I am an engineer and appreciate straight facts, well organized and plainly presented. The "Modern Coral Reef Aquarium" books are going to be very tough to top in this regard. I can look in the index and find just what I want in a momet, and the prose is a "good read" if you want to read them front to back (which I did).

Buy these books first and then the D&S series.

This book is a great guide to those who approach the coral reef aquarium and are specially interested in knowing why things happen such a way. Try to read it and you'll get delighted for sure.
Finally, I should mention it's full of magnificient photos, both from aquariums and nature.

This is a very good book covering a comprehensive range of genera and includes a section on algae which was my main reason for buying . Like every other text it can not cover everything. One of the things I would have appreciated was specific requirements by family / species and more information regarding phosphate and calcium levels . The authors claim extraordinary growth rates for corals and corraline algae which do not match my experience nor those of Aquarium shops in Brisbane Australia. Worth having as a reference .

This book is what I have always been looking for. A great reference on cnidarians that is not to complicated. The price is very high,but indeed,it is worth the money as it deals with 500+ species of corals and other cnidarians,some of which I have seen in no other of my fantastic fish/invertebrate books. It includes descriptions of more than 40 species of horn corals as well as a lot of sea anemones,which are very beautifull. This book is actually an updated,english edition of the norwegian 1992 book "Korallrevsakvariet Band 4". The authors are very experienced and they truly show that with all advices they give about keeping a saltwater aquarium in this book. It is definitly magnificent. Unfortunatley,I do not keep living cnidarians my self. I am just studying about them as wild animals. But the book was worth it and it made me discover a series of books that may be the best survey ever made on marine life,although more species would have been a good idea (1000 or more would be able to cover a book of this dimensions)I will soon buy the other ones. I`ll highly recommend it!

I would just like to point out that my comments were directed towards Volume 1 only, and that I have never even seen Vol 2, although I do plan to get it...