Before The Reef Aquarium (the New Testament) and The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium (the European New Testament), the Marine Aquarium Handbook was the go to book, well regarded by marine aquarists. It is subtitled: From Beginner to Breeder. This is an accurate assessment as it contains all the information needed to take a person from complete novice to experienced breeder.
I bought my tank used, originally planning to keep freshwater fish. The seller encouraged me to try saltwater and threw in a copy of this book. It really opened my eyes and I quickly progressed from saltwater tank to full reef tank. Along the way a pair of fish spawned and I raised their offspring to maturity and even sold some. From there I spawned several other fishes and was really into the hobby, even going to the local coastline and collecting wild plankton. This book was the main reference for anything fish related. I did refer more to the two other series for coral and invertebrates information.
What is updated? There is information about live rock, live sand beds, and macroalgae. The fish selection section has been enhanced, especially about compatibility. He includes Scott Michael's recommended fishes for small, medium, and large aquariums. And his marine fish breeding section has been expanded and updated significantly. He kept the undergravel filter chapter. I like this for two reasons: it is useful to have this information even if for background only and these filters are still applicable for breeding systems. The troubleshooting charts have also been kept intact (even the floating cookie) but many full color pictures have been included throughout the text. The ones in the breeding section are particularly informative and impressive. For saltwater fish, this is still the best book.
Marine aquarium handbook is the bible of aquarium books
This book is a must have for every marine aquarist. It's packed with great information and incredible pictures, covering all aspects of the hobby. As the title implies, a beginner as well as an expert will learn from reading this book!
Item never received
Never received the book. No emails and notice, no nothing!
Very Disappointed.
Solid material, a little dated
This is an excellent book to use as background and reference for marine aquarium keeping. There are other books that cover species identification, and I would not buy this book for that purpose. You need this book to understand the principles of filtration systems, recognition and treatment of disease and all of the underlying knowledge that will allow you to be successful in maintaining a marine aquarium. It is in need of revision to cover more recent advances in reefkeeping, though.
A nearly complete book
Moe covers most of the parts of setting up a first-time marine aquarium with aplomb and humor (his troubleshooting section includes "water pooling around tank" and "cookie floating in tank"). The only drawbacks to this book are a lack of illustrations and there is no real species profile to speak of. Since many, if not most, people start with an idea of what kind of fish they want to keep and work (backwards?) from there, a section would be helpful. But the information in the book will complement a species-focused book quite nicely.
