Marine Beginner here
Sharon H
I have a tank with tropical livebearers, and another tank with comets,
so I have some knowledge of fishkeeping.
Hubby has allowed me to get a large marine set up, but I need to learn
about this aspect first. Does anybody know of any fantastic books for
beginners in this field?
Thanks for your help
-Sharon
Ken
to the hobby. You will find that good research will save you a bundle
of money and frustration in this hobby.
Ken D
Sharon H <shar...@tpg.com.au> wrote in message news:<3D7F1EB1...@tpg.com.au>...
DJ
> so I have some knowledge of fishkeeping.
Check out this site for info related to FW to SW:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fw2mar.htm
Good information on some of the many differences. Plus lots of good
info on that entire site.
> Hubby has allowed me to get a large marine set up, but I need to learn
> about this aspect first.
Excellent idea. Do as much reading/research as you can BEFORE you
buy your first livestock. I cannot stress that enough. And please
consider
cycling you tank with something other than damsels (most likely your LFS
will recommend this, use live rock, IMO it's a better way to cycle and adds
so many other good things to your system such as natural biological
filtration)
as when the cycling is done, if they survive, they will be the fastest
meanest
fish in your tank and you'll have a very hard time catching them to get them
out (assuming your tank has all it's aquascaping in place by then, hopefully
live rock) and most likely you'll want them out because they've become
very territorial and are harassing everything else you add. Can you guess
that I've done the "damsel cycle" before? :)
> Does anybody know of any fantastic books for
> beginners in this field?
I really like The Reef Aquarium Vol 1 by Delbeek & Sprung. I have
both volumes but Vol 1 covers a lot of the setup info and intro material.
Vol 1 has excellent information related to sizing your tank (which you've
already done) to talking about various methods of filtration, lighting, etc
and a lot of info on water chemistry and things you should be aware of
and test for in your water beyond the standard ph, ammonia, nitrate &
nitrite. I really wish I'd read it before I set up my first marine tank.
I
still refer to it quite often (for my info and when responding to posts)
I've had recommended to me by another very knowledgable reefkeeper
The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium Vol 1 as well, but I've not read it.
They both come for sale from time to time on eBay for ~$50-60, they
are a bit more at amazon ($85 range)
FWIW, I'd avoid anything that says "Tetra" on the cover. I have a
few of their books and other than some nice fish pictures and some
compatability info I've found the information on tank setup & techniques
VERY dated.
Really, really depends on what sort of tank you want to keep, whether
it's FO (fish only) FOWLR (fish only with live rock) or reef. The
basics all apply, such as biological filtration, lighting, water quality,
etc
but each system has demands that will require you to do something
different based on your goal. For example, if you decide FO is the
way for you, you probably won't go out and get $1500 worth of metal
halide lights. Similarly for reef you'd not run the standard NO tubes
that come with most tanks, though both FO and reef share the same
basic demand of lighting the tank. Also the size of the tank will come
into
play for lighting, filtration (skimmer size, sump size, if using these, etc)
and stocking (I'd not put an Imperator angel in a 20L tank, for example)
Let us know what some of your goals are and we can provide more
detailed answers and point you to more reference material than you
can read in a year. :)
Cheers,
Dave Johnson
narkosis
> about this aspect first. Does anybody know of any fantastic books for
> beginners in this field?
I've read TRA (The Reef Aquarium) 1 & 2 as well as MCRA (Modern Coral Reef
Aquarium) 1 & 2, and personally I prefer MCRA 1 for tank setup info. It
doesn't "dilute" the info as TRA 1 does by including corals into it. A
couple of areas in MCRA1 could be a bit technical for newcomers, but
by-and-large, it's a pretty good read.
Roger