Famous authors of reef BOOKS: where are their famous reef TANKS?

[caaete]

Hello guys!

I´m a rookie here at the forum.

First of all, sorry for my English, it´s very awful, but I will do my best to make myself clear.

I read a lot of reef books. My favorites are the follow:

1) The Reef Aquarium, volumes 1, 2 and 3, by Julian Sprung and Charles Delbeek;
2) Aquarium Corals : Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History, by Eric Borneman;
3) The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists, by Robert Fenner;
4) Reef Invertebrates: An Essential Guide to Selection, Care and Compatibility, by Anthony Calfo and Robert Fenner;
5) Reef Secrets: Starting Right, Selecting Fishes & Invertebrates, Advanced Biotope Techniques, by Alf Nilsen and Svein Fossa;
6) Clownfishes, by Joyce Wilkerson;
7) Ultimate Marine Aquariums: Saltwater Dream Systems and How They Are Created, by Michael Palleta;
8) A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Invertebrates: 500+ Essential-to-Know Aquarium Species, by Ronald Shimek;
9) Natural Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms, John Tullock;
10) Corals of the World, volumes 1, 2 and 3, by Jen Veron;
11) Giant Clams: A Comprehensive Guide to the Identification and Care of Tridacnid Clams, by Daniel Knop;
11) Reef Fishes Series, by Scott Michael.

Let´s make a list of these famous authors: Julian Sprung, Charles Delbeek, Eric Borneman, Robert Fenner, Anthony Calfo, Alf Nilsen, Svein Fossa, Joyce Wilkerson, Michael Palleta, Ronald Shimek, John Tullock, Daniel Knop and Scott Michael.

13 famous authors with excellent books, in the opinion of most aquarists.

But...... where the heck are their reef tanks?? I can´t find any photos or information about their systems, if they exist!!

In my opinion, a good theorist MUST show results in a practical manner. A so-called excellent reef aquarium author MUST have an excellent reef tank, don´t you guys agree? So, where are the practical results of hundreds of theoretical pages of these famous authors?

I know they do researches in their fields, like chemistry, marine biologist etc. But, what the significance of these researches in reality of home reef aquaria?

Indeed, I would love to see some pictures of these famous authors reef tanks. Anybody got them??

Let´s start a good dialogue whith theory x practical.

Some questions:
1) What´s the importance to you, to you knowledge, to buy and read lots of reef books?
2) Do you think that books, specifically for and experienced marine aquarist, could make his aquarium get better? In what manner?

That´s it! Thanks for everybody for sharing your opinions!

 

[fishysteve]

I thought Michael Paletta's aquarium was at Penn State University.

 

[greenbean36191]

Paletta is in charge of Penn State's reef tank. Delbeek was in charge of the Waikiki Aquarium's reef tanks (some of the best in the world IMO).

Borneman has pictures and details of his systems on here:
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic93983-9-1.aspx

Most of the others I don't know much about other than having seen their books.

Personally though, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that most of them don't have very impressive reef tanks. As a hobbyist and researcher myself I can tell you that the hobby can become a lot more of a chore if you're working with the animals for your day job, especially when you're pulling 16 hr days. Also, there's a lot of travel involved in research. It's not unusual for me to be gone a week or so every month and occasionally be gone for 1-3 months at a time. Needless to say, the tanks suffer for both reasons. It's one thing know what you should do and another to actually have the time and motivation to do it.

I think the real test of how good these authors' advice is is how nice the tanks are of the people who listened to them.

As far as how useful these books are, I think the reference guides like Reef Fishes are handy, but the books on husbandry are mostly useful for newbies. Due to publishing cycles you really won't find anything cutting edge in them and by the time they're published a lot of the information is outdated.

 

[moogoomoogoo]

There is no governing body that declares who is and who is not an expert, or for that matter,what defines someone as an expert. Anyone can write a book.

 

[467echo]

They probably travel too much to have have time for one.

 

[GreshamH]

Paletta is in charge of Penn State's reef tank. Delbeek was in charge of the Waikiki Aquarium's reef tanks (some of the best in the world IMO).

Borneman has pictures and details of his systems on here:
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic93983-9-1.aspx

Most of the others I don't know much about other than having seen their books.

Personally though, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that most of them don't have very impressive reef tanks. As a hobbyist and researcher myself I can tell you that the hobby can become a lot more of a chore if you're working with the animals for your day job, especially when you're pulling 16 hr days. Also, there's a lot of travel involved in research. It's not unusual for me to be gone a week or so every month and occasionally be gone for 1-3 months at a time. Needless to say, the tanks suffer for both reasons. It's one thing know what you should do and another to actually have the time and motivation to do it.

I think the real test of how good these authors' advice is is how nice the tanks are of the people who listened to them.

As far as how useful these books are, I think the reference guides like Reef Fishes are handy, but the books on husbandry are mostly useful for newbies. Due to publishing cycles you really won't find anything cutting edge in them and by the time they're published a lot of the information is outdated.

Sanjay is in charge of Penn States tank, not Mike Mike's in Philly or Pittsburg IIRC. Sanjay has a massive tank thread on multiple reef forums, including RC.

Delbeek is at the California Academy of Science - Steinhart Aquarium and has been since it opened 2(?) years ago.

Joyce Wilkerson passed away several years ago.

Tullock keeps orchids.

 

[caaete]

Thanks everybody!

Anybody else has more information on the other authors? Like Shimek, very estimated among aquarists, Julian Sprung, who wroted the "bible" of reefkeeping, and Danial Knop, "master" of Tridacnas (I would love to see his tridacnas).