Reefing Books

[Ippyroy]

I have recently gone on a book buying splurge. My reefing books now almost out number my fly tying books. Before I read the entire book, Aquarium Corals by Eric H Borneman, how relevent is it? I'm only a few chapters in and I have already noticed a few things that aren't true anymore, but nothing really major. He mentioned a couple of corals that aquarist weren't able to keep alive for any length of time that are actually a bit more popular now. Is anyone familiar with this book, and can say if it's worth my time reading, and what not to pay attention to?

 

[Reefer1978]

Aquarium Corals by Eric H Borneman

Although I am not familiar with this book, it's from 2001. Reefing has changed dramatically in the last 5 years alone, we have new equipment, new methods, and new coral species. I am not surprised at all a 20-yearold book is dated.

 

[ReefRondo]

IMO there is enough good stuff in there to warrant reading it. I enjoyed it.

 

[kkelly007]

I’m an avid reader and recently researched reef books that would help my enjoyment & knowledge of the hobby and came away with a personal conclusion that there are zero books that hold a candle to the content in this R2R web-site. The technology, disease prevention/treatment, and overall coaching on how to set up and maintain a health reef tank changes on what seems like a monthly basis and books (much to my dismay) just cannot keep pace.

I will say that there are some scientific books that discuss coral species, origins, etc., but again this site covers all of the same content and more.

 

[Ippyroy]

I’m an avid reader and recently researched reef books that would help my enjoyment & knowledge of the hobby and came away with a personal conclusion that there are zero books that hold a candle to the content in this R2R web-site. The technology, disease prevention/treatment, and overall coaching on how to set up and maintain a health reef tank changes on what seems like a monthly basis and books (much to my dismay) just cannot keep pace.

I will say that there are some scientific books that discuss coral species, origins, etc., but again this site covers all of the same content and more.

As much as I wish that were completely true, I have to disagree. The information is on here, but finding it is nearly impossible. You also have to sift through tons of differing answers. The biggest problem with relying solely on R2R is that you will wind up following multiple ways that actually contradict each other. I am trying to make a game plan that I can stick to, and then use R2R to tweak and improve that over all plan. The longer I rely on just R2R the more I am just reacting. Most books are outdated, but I need to get a better base knowledge of reef keeping in order to have a more successful future in this ever changing hobby.

 

[snorklr]

i agree with ippyroy 100%...my "newest " book is from 2009...but thats an ''updated'' version and was first printed in 1982..martin moes marine aquarium handbook...next is tullocks (2001) and sprung and delbeeks(1997)...theres no mention at all of leds yet...like any forum everyone has an opinion and trying to sort out who's right and who's crazy is a full time job... if i read something and try to go back months later to find it , i cant...and BRS videos are more infomercial than instructional

 

[Timfish]

I think it's a great book! Could a new revision be published with expanded and updated information? Certainly (and I wish they would!). As far as incorrect info, when I bought my copy in 2002 I had disagreements with it.

If you don't ahve it yet I would suggest getting ROhwer's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" as it is an excellent introduction to the roles of DOC and microbial processes on reefs.

 

[kkelly007]

I didn’t mean to imply that each R2R member with a computer and offering advice should be acknowledged as the gospel because we all need to be discerning when seeking counsel. With that said there are numerous true experts on this site that share excellent experiences and opinions and in today’s world this seems so much more relevant than a dusty and dated book. To me, it’s fairly obvious which people to follow and trust and there isn’t a real need to reconcile differences of opinions although, like any topic, knowledgeable and reasonable people will have differences. Additionally, the author of a book could be equally as challenged—ie, just because you wrote a book does not necessarily make everything you say and entire factual truth.

I recently downloaded a highly rated Reef-keeping book on my Kindle and in addition to having zero discussion on current lighting (ie, the LED comment above) as well as other basic advancements in our hobby, it spent almost two full chapters discussing why a reefer might consider not using an under gravel filtration system, which was the standard many years ago. Just one more example of how dated most reef keeping books are.

IMHO, referencing a book for advice about maintaining a reef tank setup is akin to shopping for a new luxury car today and performing research from a book that details the newest models from the year 2005.

One final thought: there are several excellent marine biology and species books on fish and coral, but many of these read like text books. I’m specifically talking about reef keeping books that I’ve seen, acknowledging that it’s possible there is a current edition of one that is out there that I am not aware of.

 

[jda]

Chemistry and biology has not changed. The best lights around are still Metal Halides. CaRx are still widely used. Venturi skimmer like LifeReef is still better than nearly anything else. Bacteria is still bacteria. Rock and sand are still made of aragonite. All of this said, you should be reading to learn and get knowledge, not to have somebody tell you what equipment to buy since that can change over time.

Authors went through the publication process including vetting and actually proving that they know what the are talking. Around here, anybody with a cable modem who posts the most and who is the loudest seems tends to make people think that they know what they are doing,

Most of the disagreements with many books are people lack of understanding, which is why the need to read the books. There is a movement towards having higher residual levels building blocks and nearly none of them know that the high residual levels are what is doing the work, it is availability which has nothing to do with residual levels - even with higher residual levels, the availability is what is making the tank work. Most people do not even know that building blocks only need to be not limiting and that having a lot of extra is not any better than having a few extra... extra is extra. A book might help with this.

However, with the current culture of 0 or 100%, most would probably just put a book down that does not agree with what they are doing already... and they wonder while they struggle.

Did the world change when synthetic material replaced natural material for tying flies? Nope. Fish are still hungry and you still have to fool them or make them mad. ...yet somebody might throw down an older fly book because they mentioned cat gut or silk when they could have learned so much other stuff... these morons will likely never be good at the hobby.

 

[jda]

BTW - if you are on a book binge and want to collect for the future, JEN Veron's Corals of the World has been going up in value and getting harder and hard to find. It is a must-have for a reef book collector.

 

[kkelly007]

BTW - if you are on a book binge and want to collect for the future, JEN Veron's Corals of the World has been going up in value and getting harder and hard to find. It is a must-have for a reef book collector.

Great stuff and appreciate the book reference.

And I hear you on fly tying. Was in Port Alsworth, Alaska a couple of years ago on a trout trip of a lifetime. I can tell you those fish were definitely hungry!

 

[jda]

Another example of books and stupid people... Kid next door bought a Subaru something with a Turbo. He wanted to learn how engines work and I gave him a book on Flathead engines (ford v8, v6 and some tractor stuff) and a book on how to rebuild 50 to about 80 v8s (muscle car stuff with turbos and superchargers). He gave them back to me the next day like a moron because there was nothing in there about modern engines. When I explained to him that engines have not really changed since about 1800s and that he could learn nearly all that he needed to know, he took another look and actually learned about bearings, cams, cranks, oiling systems (all kinds), etc. I told him to then read up on the other 5% like sensors and variable valve timing and that he would have most of the rest of it. He was SHOCKED to learn that engines from WWI vehicles had turbos and superchargers.

In the end, reefing has stayed the same since 2001 more than it has changed. The book is cool.

 

[fish farmer]

I have recently gone on a book buying splurge. My reefing books now almost out number my fly tying books. Before I read the entire book, Aquarium Corals by Eric H Borneman, how relevent is it? I'm only a few chapters in and I have already noticed a few things that aren't true anymore, but nothing really major. He mentioned a couple of corals that aquarist weren't able to keep alive for any length of time that are actually a bit more popular now. Is anyone familiar with this book, and can say if it's worth my time reading, and what not to pay attention to?

I like the book for coral reference and a few other things....biology is biology...so is equipment....I have Advanced Reef Keeping from Albert Thiel from 1989, not really a must have, but basically go into all the equipment, etc in setting up a reef tank way back in the day....which if you notice is still pretty much same, save for more knowledge on chemistry.

 

[Ippyroy]

This is what I am looking for. Books that help explain WHY to do something. That part will pretty much not change. I can learn the HOW, since this does change. So many people tady just want to be told what to do. They don't care to learn why you do it. The reason there are so many successful tanks out there all using different methods is because they learned the WHYs and figured out the HOWs. Thanks guys.