Customer Reviews

The Simple Guide to Planted Aquariums

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've kept planted aquariums for a number of years, but was intrigued by this book because one of the co-authors is a well-known advocate of low-tech planted tanks.

The format of this book is VERY nice. The writing is friendly and inviting, and there are lots of pretty full color photos. Personally, I didn't learn a whole lot of new information, but it was a pleasant read nonetheless. I would certainly recommend it to someone just entering the hobby, or someone looking for an overview on planted tanks, especially if they're seeking some guidance on what type of planted tank is the best fit for them - high tech, low tech, biotope, etc. All around, a very good presentation, and an excellent invitation to exploring planted aquariums!

I never write Amazon reviews, but I was so disappointed in this book I felt I had to. It's too confusing to introduce beginners to the hobby, but not informative enough to be useful for anyone already familiar with planted tanks.

"The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums," by David Boruchowitz (and also published by TFH), is one of the best introductory aquarium texts out there -- all beginners should have a copy. I expected this guide to be just as good. It's not. Like the Boruchowitz book, there's a problem with the illustrations -- for the most part the plant and fish photos serve as decoration, and aren't instructive. But how could TFH publish an entire chapter of plant descriptions without a simple gallery of plant photos to go with the text? There are only so many ways you can describe a stem plant before they all start to sound the same.

This book is clearly a victim of budget cuts (almost all the photos are recycled from the Boruchowitz book, and a few even show up twice), and with a little more effort could have turned into something really worthwhile. An extra chapter with sample stocking schemes (with setups for tanks of different sizes, care/tech levels, and geographical regions) should have been included, too.

This is a terrifice resource for beginners. I have been reading everything and anything I can get my hands to set up my first planted aquarium. When I found this book I'd been reading and searching for a couple of months. This book reflects much of the information I had been able to gather over those months of research.

When starting out on a new path, it is always nice to have a simple guide to show the way. This book has the basics and explanations for the hows and whys. It is easy to read and understand, gives excellend explanations and encourages the complete novice to attempt this hobby.

Armed with this information, I will be setting up my tank shortly. I recommend this book to anyone who is considering setting up a planted tank.

This easy to read and understand book should be in every aquarist's library. It has easy to understand Eco-system descriptions, just as the name of the book implies. An excellent chapter that gives the names, descriptions and best use, of a wide variety of aquarium plants. We'll look forward to the authors' next book!

This book has been quite helpful for my husband who is setting up his first planted aquarium. It is well organized, informative, and easy to read. The authors offer suggestions of compatible fish as well as plants, substrates, and water management.

After reading several books about the same topic, This one is easy, simple and clear to understand, as the title expose. It introduce you as beginner or expert in an understandable language and help you step by step on what you nned to know about the hobbie. If your are plannig to have a planted aquarium, this is a MUST READ BOOK.!!!!

This book is a very good book for beginners and for a reference. It explains the topics very well and gives you a good look on how the aquarium works. It does a good job of explaining how to keep your water conditions at optimum levels for fish and plants.

The authors have done an excellant job of describing water chemistry and the reasons various filtration systems work. pH, KH, hardness, nitrites, and nitrates are all covered. Testing and correction of water deficiencies are described very well. The explanation of Kingdoms of platnts, animals, etc. is very enlightening. The different catagories of plants are also covered as well as their use in an aquarium. Fish that are compatible with a planted aquarium are also suggested.

El libro es bastante completo, toca temas elementales pero necesarios para quienes apenas empiezan con el acuarismo, igualmente desarrolla algunos temas avanzados de forma didáctica y ágil. trae algunas tablas muy útiles sobre parametros del agua. al final, dedica capítulos enteros a las plantas de acuario clasificándolas en una forma bastante útil. Excelente adquisición.

This book was too complicated for the beginner and too superficial for everybody else. While all the photos of plants contained more than one type of plant, the caption failed to identify more than one type and it was never clear which plant the caption was referring too. Many of the more complicated topics were treated so superficially as to be of any use to anybody and should have been left out entirely