Puget Sound Aquarium Society President Barry Hatton writes:
The most commonly agreed upon piece of advice offered for newcomers to the reef hobby is to “Do The Research First.” Unfortunately, this is often where the agreement ends. “Research” usually involves consulting ten different sources, getting six different answers each professing to be the only “right” answer, throwing out the extremes, taking the average of what’s left, multiplying that by 3 meq/L (or 8.4 dKH), pushing all of that aside and then following gut instinct. Given the fact that there can be literally hundreds of questions and even more “authorities” willing to share their opinion, the beginner can easily become overwhelmed.
In his book, Simplified Reef Keeping, Metelsky has put together a roadmap for travel through this maze. As he points out, a hobbyist does not expect to know how the human respiratory system works in order to know that breathing is a good technique! In Simplified Reef Keeping, Metelsky explains the techniques he has found successful in setting up and maintaining his own reefs.
Beginning appropriately with planning the reef system, Metelsky manages to focus the reader’s attention on the financial aspects of reef keeping and suggests, throughout the book, techniques for minimizing the not insignificant costs through various do-it-yourself projects and the use of alternative supplies. As opposed to many authors which superficially address only some of the requirements of setting up a reef, Metelsky provides the reader an opportunity to consider in depth all of the major issues. In many cases, he discusses several approaches and explains why he prefers one technique over another. Throughout it all, he guides the reader through the actual hands-on implementation with answers to commonly asked questions.
One of the more fascinating aspects of reef keeping is that much of the hobby is based on continuously evolving scientific theory. Even the experts debate many of the simplest aspects of reef keeping such as temperature, lighting and water flow. Simplified Reef Keeping offers a wealth of information for building a fundamental understanding of the hobby without confusing the beginner with too much of the science. Perhaps the appeal of this book lies in the fact that here is an experienced hobbyist saying “This is what works for me”, sharing with the reader a complete perspective on most if not all of the aspects of setting up and maintaining an artificial reef.
Barry Hatton Puget Sound Aquarium Society
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