What would you want to see in a reef book?

[kathainbowen]

I need some opinions and advice.....

Through a series of random room catastrophies during a sudden urge to retool my portfolio (it happens every now and again when my creative side beats back my logical side), I discovered something disappointing. Reef and aquarium books aren't really well designed for making newbs want to join the hobby. Informative, yes, but not always helpfully informative. In fact, I learned more about how to keep/care for tanks from trial and error as a child and from watching other people screw up their tanks through working at the LFS. So, I got it into my head (*and onto my list of "What-the-evil-did-I-get-myself-into?" projects) to make a fun, funky, newbie friendly book as a portfolio piece.

But.... here's where I need your help... now that we've all at least gotten our feet wet with keeping reefs.... what had you learned now that you wish someone had been smart enough to tell you in a book BEFORE you started? Or, what stuff do you think is valuable for a newbie quality book on captive reef care?




***I already decided I would have liked to have had waterproof pages that I could take out and use on things like set up instructions or fragging (this way, I could have instructions and not worry about ruining them, or the book!) as well as charts that could be written on and rewritten again (either with marker or wax pencil) to use for waterchanging schedules, water testing, adding fish, etc. Good stuff like that.

 

[DaveK]

This is an interesting question.

Usually, for someone new I recommend they obtain and study several books on state of the are reef systems. This is because there are still a lot of obsolete books out there, and there are only good for historical information. Usually I recommend The New Marine Aquarium by Paletta and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Fenner. These books are short and easy enough so that a beginner can understand them, set up a reef and have a fighting chance of having the system work.

To make a reef system work, a person needs to become knowledgeable in a lot of areas. Good books provide this information. Without good information, the chances of having success with a reef system are low.

However, there are several topics that don't get covered in books, and are unlikely to even get the coverage they deserve. Here's my "short list".

First, beginners should understand that most LFSs are almost completely clueless when it comes to SW reef systems. We are lucky, since in this area there are some good stores, even so I'd say about 85% of the LFSs should not be depended upon to supply a beginner, or anyone else, with correct information.

Second, the cost of owning a reef should be explained. These systems are expensive to set up correctly. I usually tell people that they will spend between $35 and $50 per gallon of water in the main display tank, by the time they have everything they need, and get the tank fully stocked.

There are also the ongoing costs, food, salt, light bulb replacement, electricity, and so on. A FW hobbiest can get away with a normal output fluorescent bulb for about $5. Those nice MH bulbs we want are about $65 each. Business people refer to this as the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).

Third, like any pet, a reef is something that is alive. If you can't spend the time, and money, to keep it, you should not own a reef system. You should respect every bit of livestock you purchase. Losses, even total wipe outs will occur, but every piece of livestock that goes into a reef should be expected to live it's full life. No getting something to "see how it will do". No purchases of difficult livestock, unless you have a plan to keep it alive.

 

[MikeNapoli]

I think that Fenners book is the best one out there right now.

But anything could be made better.

• A "complete" (very hard to get) list of all species, including rare and hard to find fish/inverts/corals
• Better acclimating procedures (more than one hour dripping)
• quarentining procedures/what to do if a fish is sick/types of disease
• Tank cost and maintenance (as dave said)
• alot of newbs make the mistake of topping off with salt water instead of fresh... don't know why that isn't in a book or if it is then it should be in yours as well
• how about different types of algae (good/bad) and what causes them/how to get rid of them/how to control them
• this one i really want to see: I really like how a tank or animals in a tank can do certain jobs if you have a problem i.e. cleaner shrimp clean fish/serpent stars scavenge for food/clows feed anemones .. If you have an octopus problem you get a trigger and they eat them.. those little white starfish on the glass that can become a problem, you just get a harlequin shrimp (I know it's not easy to just add things like a trigger and harlequin shrimp to a reef system but I'm just giving an example.) Anyway it would be cool to have a list of stuff like that in your book.

Thats it for me now ... if I think of anything else i'll get back on

 

[Subliminal]

When I first decided to set up a saltwater tank, and way before i found out about njreefers, reefcentral, manhattan reefs, I posted on a message forum (maybe reefs.org or something).

The answer that I got was astounding:

"Get some macro. That's all you really need."

Macro?

Macro lens?
Macrocosm?

WTF is macro?

It took me months to answer that question in a way that made sense. Now I know all about fuges, flow, nutrient export, but man...that was confusing.

 

[Brian]

I think something that describes changes in salinity due to evaporation. I've heard too many people saying that they top off with saltwater instead of freshwater.

 

[mynd]

I would think that it would need to be pretty basic to start, just like this site. Covering the same information would be very good. You can always buy other books that cover water specifics and compounds later.

http://www.reefbasics.com/index.html

 

[jazzsam]

I think something that describes changes in salinity due to evaporation. I've heard too many people saying that they top off with saltwater instead of freshwater.

I could not agree more with this one. I did this when I first started.

 

[blange3]

So if you are focusing on newbies and want to make it fun, have lots of pictures of things that they can raise and that look great.

How about some basic recipes to build a beginner size tank with easy to keep attractive corals? Have a softie, a zoo and an easy lps tank pictured with a list of ingredients and step by step instructions to build what you pictured. When they submit a picture to you of their completed project; they get a discount coupon for volume two of the series where you can show them all of the beautiful but newbie discouraging corals, fish and pieces of equipment that we are all so fascinated with.

Also include a top ten list of newbie mistakes with some tank crash pictures for fun. You know how many folks love to watch auto racing just to see the crashes! ;D This list would include the clasics like topping of with salt water, buying a naso tang for your first fish, adding chemicals that you don't test for, taking everything posted in a reef forum as truth.....

 

[blange3]

Another random thought, pop over to Reef Central and pm WaterKeeper. A lot of his newbie threads are very informative and entertaining. I bet he has some ideas for ya.

 

[kathainbowen]

Also include a top ten list of newbie mistakes with some tank crash pictures for fun. You know how many folks love to watch auto racing just to see the crashes! ;D This list would include the clasics like topping of with salt water, buying a naso tang for your first fish, adding chemicals that you don't test for, taking everything posted in a reef forum as truth.....

LMAO. Nice.

I was already thinking about having a trouble-shooting section, but I do think having a visual key for "what-went-wrong" is something many books miss out on having. I mean, think about the worst thing of all, and we ALL do it.

Referring to a coral's state of being as "happy," "sad," "angry," "mad," or any other human emotion.

How in the daylights is a newb supposed to understand that?!? I mean, when I got my first crash course and hands on experience with actually keeping corals, I finally got to see and understand what people meant by that. But up until then, I was confused out of my head when people called their coral "happy" or "mad."

 

[DaveK]

I've noticed that several posts have referred to some web pages and threads on other reef areas as a possible source of information for beginners.

While these threads do contain a lot of good information, most people don't want to go through many pages of online information. Also, as good as the information is, it is often incomplete.

I think the web is a great place to get a specific question answered. However, I think books are much better at filling in all the background information a beginner needs to know. At that point they are then in a position to ask intelligent questions, and avoid the may pitfalls of beginners.

 

[blange3]

I've noticed that several posts have referred to some web pages and threads on other reef areas as a possible source of information for beginners.

Nope, Mynd referred to a site as an example of the type of information to put in a book and I suggested picking the bain of WaterKeeper, a prominent and reliable poster of beginner advice, as a source of ideas for the book.

I agree that turning newbies loose on a forum is not a good first or second step.