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Authored by Michael S. Paletta, "The New Marine Aquarium: Step-By-Step Set Up and Stocking Guide" is a book we highly recommend not only for beginners, but one that would be a valuable resource for any saltwater aquarist to have in their reference library.

• Description - 144 pages filled with fish-only and live rock filtration set up, stocking, fish and aquarium maintenance care information, full-color photographs, diagrams and checklists throughout.

• Price - Low Range
• Publisher - T.F.H. Publications; Co-published by Microcosm Books

If you want to set up a saltwater aquarium or are just getting started in the hobby, "The New Marine Aquarium: Step-By-Step Set Up & Stocking Guide" is for you! Michael has done a excellent job of putting this beginners book together, providing all the details you'll need to set up a fish-only tank from start to finish, how to cure and add live rock for biological filtration (if you choose this method of filtration), as well as how to care for the aquarium and its inhabitants once it is up and running. This book's easy to read and comprehend content, organized information, beautiful color photographs and detailed graphic drawings make it a top choice resource book.

Michael includes three checklists in this book. The Planning Checklist and Step-By-Step Setting Up A Fish-Only Tank Checklist are both handy to give you an order to what you need to do, and each list has boxes to check off a task or to-do step when it has been completed.

The Fish Choices For Five Starter Aquariums Checklist provides outlines for five fish-only community tank set ups for the fish you might choose for each type. These range from the peaceful community tank to the more aggressive, predatory fish community tank.

Here's the chapters of important need-to-know information contained in "The New Marine Aquarium":

• Getting Started: Planning Your System; Basic Choices and Equipment for a First Marine Aquarium.
• Saltwater Primer: A Healthy Medium; Making It Sparkling and Fit for Fishes.
• Live Rock: Nature's Biological Filter; How to Buy and Tame It. (This chapter contains a detailed section on rock scaping with many diagrams to show how to properly arrange rocks for optimum efficiency, tank circulation, and ease of tank care.)
• Establishing A New Aquarium: From Empty Tank to Living Ecosystem; A Step-by-Step Guide.
• Selecting Fishes: A Guide to Stocking a Marine Community Tank. (This chapter includes the Fish Choices For Five Starter Aquariums Checklist with many full color fish photographs, a beginner invertebrates list, as well as information about quarantining new fish arrivals, and how to set up a simple quarantine tank.)
• Feeding & Maintenance: Simple Routines for Keeping Fishes Well Fed and the System Attractive.
• Health: Preventing and Curing Common Disease and Parasite Problems.

About the Author: An expert marine aquarist, aquarium designer and public reef exhibit adviser, Michael S. Paletta regularly writes articles for national publications. Other books he has authored that you may find of interest -- "Ultimate Marine Aquariums".