Ecology of the Planted Aquarium: A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist, Second Edition - Walstad, Diana L. Review & Synopsis

 Synopsis

Book presents scientific information that hobbyists can use to set up and maintain successful planted freshwater aquaria. Book contains practical tips using a question-and-answer format in boxes scattered throughout the text. Hobbyists learn how to keep a healthy and inexpensive aquarium. Although the author prefers low-tech methods, she lays out the science that underlies all methods. The author shows that hobbyists can create thriving planted freshwater tanks WITHOUT CO2 injection, fertilizers, expensive lighting, and other high-tech gadgets.

Review

Diana Walstad is a long-time aquarium hobbyist. She trained as a microbiologist and spent many years doing medical research at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill). Her last position was as a cell biologist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Science. Now retired, she is publishing a forthcoming book on her family's history.I am delighted with the tack taken in which you provide scientific information for hobbyists to make sound aquarium management decisions. I applaud the approach to educate non-scientists about their subjects; too often the scientific laypersons are greatly underestimated. I was particularly pleased with the book's total avoidance of gadgets that are mostly quite useless. The book's ecosystem approach and balance of the system is the only reasonable direction long-term. --Robert G. Wetzel, Biology Professor, and Author of 'Limnology'

Your new book is outstanding in every respect. In my opinion, this is a definitive, practical guide for the aquarist who wants to set up a beautiful planted aquarium. Beyond the basics, it is an in-depth exploration of the aquatic ecosystem and how if affects plants. --Don Dewey, former editor of 'Freshwater and Marine Aquarium'

Based on science but engagingly written... The best part is that, in the practical setup section, the author tells exactly what to do, in simple terms, in lists of instructions that one can read and understand. Hooray! --'Aquaphyte' (University of Florida)

Ecology of the Planted Aquarium

A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist Diana L . Walstad . SF 457.7 W25 2003 Ecology of the Planted Aquarium A Practical Manual and Scientific Treatise for the Home Aquarist by Diana L . Walstad Published by ..."