- Description - A fish-only and live rock filtration set up, stocking, fish care, and maintenance saltwater aquarium book. 144 pages packed with information, full-color photographs, diagrams and checklists throughout.
- Price - Low Range
- Publisher - T.F.H. Publications; Co-published by Microcosm Ltd.
- ISBN #1890087521 (Paperback; 1999)
If you are wanting to, or just getting started in the saltwater aquarium 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. Its easy to read and comprehend content of 144 pages, well 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.
The following chapters are covered in great detail:
- 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 rockscaping 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.
"The New Marine Aquarium: Step-By-Step Setup & Stocking Guide" is a book that we highly recommend not only for the beginner, but one that would be a valuable resource for any saltwater aquarist to have in their reference library.
About the Author: Michael S. Paletta is an expert marine aquarist who regularly writes articles for national publications, an aquarium designer, public reef exhibit advisor, and author of "Ultimate Marine Aquariums".



