The Reef Aquarium - Further Education


happens mainly through reading literature.

Also in reef aquariums.

Over the last two decades, the amount of available literature has multiplied.

In addition, there are countless websites with a wealth of knowledge about private experiences in various reef aquariums as well as numerous marine aquarium magazines.

Now, how is the inexperienced beginner supposed to know the right path to successful reef keeping?! Hopefully, their first conclusion is: every tank seems to behave differently, and they're already on the right path.

Nothing is static and experiences from the first decades of seawater, the sixties and seventies, have been renewed and supplemented over time.

Often, when new, so-called "standard works" are written, people have - and still do - uncritically copied from old books, and a new book is touted as "the new standard work of marine aquaristics" even before it is published.

Whether it can meet such demands, which in my opinion can only be acquired over the course of years, remains to be seen - what counts is sales.

But how is the untrained layperson supposed to determine whether a book is worth reading or not? A question that arises not only in our hobby.

I don't want to give an answer to that here, but I recommend that you read a wide range of literature in order to make your own comparisons and make your own selections.

The Internet, with its diverse forum landscape, is a helpful tool and should be used by everyone.

The latest developments are discussed here before they are published in books or magazines, and membership in a forum provides users with advice at any time of day or night.

But please don’t immediately follow every innovation and every piece of advice.

It has often been shown that after unsuccessful test runs in our home aquariums, products disappear without a trace. The damage, however, remains with us and our pets.

Author: Joe Woschnik