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talloulou

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Apr 12, 2005
Messages
2,467
Location
Washington
I searched the library and the local Barnes and Noble for

Robert Fenner's "Conscientious Marine Aquarist. Neither place had it. So I bought and am currently devouring "The Simple Guide to Marine Aquariums by Jeffrey Kurtz." This book seems to have alot of information and it "spoon feeds" just the way my spongy brain needs.

I also have "The Saltwater Aquarium Handbook" which I didn't like too much.

So my question is should I go ahead and order The Conscientious Marine Aquarist online? Is it worth it? I did notice this book has very high ratings and recommendations from Amazon customers. But I hate to spend the $$$$ on it if it will mostly be a repeat of the info in Kurtz's book. I will probably pick up Fenner's book later on assuming it becomes available locally. But is it worth ordering online and holding off starting my tank this weekend?

My intentions are to buy my tank setup & live rock hopefully this weekend.
 
Fenners book is not new so if its not available then its probably not in stock cause they dont have many requests for it. I highly recommend it. I dont know whats in the Kurtz book so I dont know hwo much is repeated other than maybe the basic setup info. Fenner's book also has some very good information about the different fish's and some basic info on corals and inverts.

I highly recommend it. If you go get it from amazon please use the link in our saltwater library. It gives us a small % from each sale. It helps cover hosting expenses.
 
I would definitely recommend "the book" before you buy anything. Then again, I do know how exciting this can be for you. Yes, Fenner's book and shrimp or rock cycling. Fenner wasn't up on that yet. :wink:
 
Definitely order Fenner's book, I have many aquarium books and his is by far the most informative. I also highly recommend...

Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman...if you plan on keeping any corals a must have.

Natural Reef Aquariums by John Tullock

Giant Clams by Daniel Knop (obviously buy only if you want to keep clams)

Julian Sprung's "Corals" and "Invertebrates" are good for general ID and needs also have a lot of pictures.
 
I ordered The Consciensious Marine Aquarist from Books-a-Million.com. Cheap price and quick delivery. And its a great book, also.
 
Hi. I recently ordered Fenner's book from B & N online. It is an unbelievable source of information! I am a newb and it was much better than anything else I have read.
 
Well I'm going to have delay my dive into saltwater for a bit. We decided to donate the money we had on hand for starting our saltwater tank to the red cross. But on the upside that means I'm gonna have some extra time to read!

Thanks for the great book suggestions :p
 
In the meantime, why don't you see if your public library owns or can find you a copy of the Fenner book (and/or others), to see how you like it (them)? Try for free first!!
 
hi- I strongly urge you to also consider buying "The New Saltwater marine Aquarium" by Michael Palletta. It proved to be understandable and consciencious, especially for instructing a newb like me on setting up a successful 30g sw tank for a Dwarf Lionfish....
 
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