Re: [APD] Book List

[David Aiken <daiken at iprimus_com.au>]

I'll make a suggestion for another addition to your list, and sound a  
caveat about an item on it.

First, the addition: Diana Walstead's 'Ecology of the Planted  
Aquarium'. You may not agree with her approach and I guess I don't  
since I run a tank with more lighting than she suggests, CO2  
supplementation, fertilisation, and a fluorite substrate - in other  
words more towards high tech than her approach though I haven't gone  
as far as pH controllers yet - but there is still an immense amount  
of information in this book that isn't available elsewhere and it  
definitely stays in my library for that reason. I have definitely got  
value for money from this book, despite the fact that I don't use her  
techniques.

My caveat is about Kasselmann's new 'Planted Aquariums'. It is not as  
informative as I hoped, and it doesn't cover theory anywhere near as  
well as I hoped given the quality of 'Aquarium Plants'. I definitely  
hoped for more science and I am disappointed. It's a good book but I  
think there's probably a much better book she could write.

For the theory side and heavier reading, especially if you're reading  
in bed where the book could fall and break your nose because you  
dropped off to sleep, I'd recommend Adey and Loveland's 'Dynamic  
Aquaria'. It's slanted to marine tanks more than freshwater and  
definitely slanted to huge tanks rather than home tanks, but it  
really does cover biological processes and their replication in  
closed environments. I'd also recommend people who want more  
scientific info about what goes on in natural systems read a  
limnology textbook. I won't recommend one because the one I have is  
now several years old and university textbooks tend to go out of date  
fairly fast, but a limnology text will delve further into the natural  
system processes even further than 'Dynamic Aquaria' does, though  
there will still be a lot of space devoted to marine environments  
since they make up the bulk of the water based ecological systems on  
this planet.

'Dynamic Aquaria' and a limnology text definitely aren't essential  
reading, and they aren't going to be big sellers so you couldn't  
justify holding them in stock in a LFS, but they are good  
recommendations for the small proportion of aquarists who appreciate  
a much more scientific understanding of the biological processes at  
work in our aquariums. I think Walstead's book is a good, quarter-way  
house for those who want a bit more info and understanding than the  
basic beginner's book.

And I do hope Kasselmann can find it in her to write a really solid  
text that puts out a lot more info than Walstead and slanted more  
towards the serious hobbyist who likes running a tank towards the  
higher end of the technology scale.

David Aiken




On 14/08/2005, at 7:21 AM, Berne Kairunas wrote:

> Thanks for the quick reply everyone!  Input is always appreciated -  
> and
> passed on to the powers that be :)
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