Aqua Keepers
New member
No lie. I used to be a crack head and this hobby has saved my life. Now I'm addicted to REEF-er. I don't think too many crack heads can afford this hobby.
[Skimmers] Who is Escobal?
- Thread starter Kenzy
- Start date
douggiestyle
New member
Caddyshack 2 ?
never heard of it. coundnt have been any good.
prance1520
Member
You guys have obviously never bough engineering books before. This is about average when it comes to technical engineering books.
woz9683
Premium Member
By the way, I am an engineer, and consequently have bought many engineering books, and generally they are very expensive. But the fact is that most of the websites I've checked have advertised a paperback version for around $30, but none have it in stock. I even found it on a course syllabus for some Marine Biology course up in Alaska and the professor had it listed at about $30 also. The price doesn't have much, if anything, to do with the fact that it's an engineering book. The volume of sales for your average engineering book is just so small that it's cost per copy is very high. Obviously this book has escaped that "average" category and has enough volume to be printed in paperback at a lower cost, it's just a matter of finding it in stock somewhere.
lakee911
New member
I'm always checkin' the mail, while at work constantly...still nothing. Maybe I got the last one 
I bought all my engineering books used, online, or both, for much cheaper. Sometimes borrowed a friends, whatever. Never paid full price for most of my books. Sometimes you get lucky.
Jason
I bought all my engineering books used, online, or both, for much cheaper. Sometimes borrowed a friends, whatever. Never paid full price for most of my books. Sometimes you get lucky.
Jason
woz9683
Premium Member
You probably did get the last one. I went to Borders last night, and they couldn't get me a copy from any of their suppliers. Also, the salesman called books-a-million and barnes and noble, but no luck with either of them. The book is definitely out of print so unless someone has just had a copy sitting in stock for a while the only real option is going to be a used one.
BrainBandAid
New member
I found it at my local library of all places. Spend about 7 bucks in quarters and copied most of it.
Definitely well worth it. Absolutely amazing book. I've never seen anyone explain exactly how something in this hobby works like in this book.
I found a couple of places online that "had" it for about $33. What they don't tell you is that it might be out of stock and they'd try to find a copy for me. That was about 3 months ago.
Definitely well worth it. Absolutely amazing book. I've never seen anyone explain exactly how something in this hobby works like in this book.
I found a couple of places online that "had" it for about $33. What they don't tell you is that it might be out of stock and they'd try to find a copy for me. That was about 3 months ago.
woz9683
Premium Member
That's about the best I've been able to get out of anybody either Brain. Since you've already managed to find a copy do you mind giving me a better idea of exactly what's in it. I started looking for it because of a good bit on skimmers (so I heard), but what else does it cover?
The book covers the equations that cover bubble size in skimmers, contact time, flow rates, UV sterializer flow rates, tank turn over for filters. IE a 100 gallon tank with 100 gph through a filter does not filter 100 % of the tank water every hour, most of the water it filters near the end of the hour is water that has already been filtered.
Kim
Kim
I have been looking for this book for over a year off and on. I finally found one for under a $100. I bought a copy of the first edition Sunday on Alibris.com (Ive never heard of it but it came up on Google) for 74.95. So, does anybody know what was added or updated for the second edition?
BrainBandAid
New member
On top of that, I would add how to properly calculate total head loss, including calculating friction losses.
I like this book because it tells you WHY. Ask a question on this forum about DIY stuff and you'll get a bunch of different answers. Ask them where they came up with that answer, and I'd be surprised if you got any verifiable, studied information. This book won't go into great detail about any fancy skimmers, but I think after reading it, you might not even want one.
Ok, here's BrainBandAid's full book report: (bear with me, I haven't done one since grade school!)
Chapter One: didn't copy it, I think it was a basic overview of various common aquarium equipment.
Chapter Two: The Duration Required to Pass All the Water in a Body of Water through a Specified Device
Sounds simple, but every wonder where those figures come from when you ask someone how much flow should go through my skimmer/filter? Explains his formula on turnover, why you can't really filter 100% of your tank [basically: Time=(Gallons/Flowrate) X Purity Coefficient (for 99.9% filtration, the coefficient is 9.2)] He goes on to say that there is really no reason to filter "all" the water more than twice a day, so if you plug in 12 (hours) into the time, your gallons for... gallons, X for flowrate, and use 9.2, it will tell you what the flow rate needs to be to filter 99.9% of your gallons every 12 hours, or twice a day. He later adds a nice little chart to make it easier.
Chapter Three: Theory of Filtration (Turnover and Circulation)
I didn't pay too much attention to this chapter because I don't use any, but it describes how to figure out how long it will take to exhaust a filter, because the flow through a filter changes as it gets more filled with crud.
Chapter Four: Sterilizer Selection (Practical Solution Via Graphics)
I didn't plan on using a sterilizer, but I might now. He explains why they're important, gives a chart on most of the bad bugs you might encounter, and the required dose rate of UV needed to kill them. Then he describes how to choose or setup the sterilizer required to do the job. Covers flow vs. dose rate and stuff like that.
Chapter Five: Analytic Theory of Ultraviolet Sterilizers: Flowrate, Power and Diameter
More in-depth of chapter four. Lots of math.
Chapters six and seven I didn't copy for some reason, I don't remember what they were about, but I guess I thought I didn't need 'em.
Chapter Eight: Introduction To Protein Skimmers: A Graphical Approach
Exactly that. Goes over his basic "Laws of Skimmer Operation". Pretty fundamental.
Chapter Nine: Theory Of Protein Skimmers: Laws and Operation
The nitty-gritty. How to figure ANYTHING out with a basic, air-driven, counter current skimmer. Well, just about anything. Goes over bombardment rate, length vs. diameter (very eye opening), maximum and minimum volume of air required, dwell times, etc. Lots and lots of math, most over my head. But he gives plenty of graphs and charts, so if you just want to take his word for it, just use the chart!
Chapter Ten: Fluid Pumps: Water Moving Devices
Pump designs, power considerations, principles of pressure and flow, starts a little bit about friction and head losses, pumps in series vs. parallel.
Chapter Eleven: Installation Hydraulics: Aquarium Fluid Mechanics
Gives a few different set-ups as examples to show how to determine what size pump you need for each application. If you want to figure if your pump you have now will move a certain amount of water through a certain set-up of plumbing, this is it. Calculate friction loss through the most common fitting, valves, pipe, entrance and exits. Gives a modified Bernoulli equation to figure total head in a system. Tons of math, and not many charts to cheat with, but WELL worth the effort.
Chapter Twelve: Aquarium Thermodynamics: Heat Transfer
Covers basic thermodynamics and how to apply it to aquariums. A nice chart shows gallons vs. watts required, for either glass or acrylic. The math is nice if you want to prove it, though. Has a nice section on how to figure the area (not volume, but it's not hard to calculate after that) of rectangular, cylindrical, and hexagonal tanks. Also, weight of water and tanks.
Chapter Fourteen: Systems Integration: Applications
I skipped chapter thirteen, but I think it dealt with ozone. If that chapter is anything like the rest, I'm sure it has everything you'd need to know.
Fourteen is a culmination of the whole book. A couple different setups, and then you proceed to calculate the proper flowrates, pump, heater, skimmer, and sterilizer selection, head losses, etc.
Every chapter has many examples and practice problems you can work though, with answers. The appendix explains almost all the math you need to do anything in the book.
The best part, for an anal-retentive perfectionist like me, is that I can now challenge all those "rules of thumb" pieces of advice that people here throw around like laws. And, if someone asks, "Why are you only pumping that low flow?" or "Why are you using that technique/equipment that way?" you can back your answer up with hard facts (or, at least as factual as the author
)The down sides I would have to say would be the lack of information on some of the newer stuff, like skimmers and CO2 devices. It mentions them, but does not go into the great detail like the more basic stuff. That might turn people away if the only advice they gain is on air-driven counter current skimmers. But you should be able to adapt the basic principles.
Thanks!
Haven't heard from them either. I will call tomorrow. Sounds good Brain. Can't wait to read it
woz9683
Premium Member
Yeah, thanks for the layout. From that description I might just go ahead and pay $160 for it. But before I do that, Brain you said it doesn't get into the newer stuff that much, so I'm wondering if anyone knows of any book (or website or other resourse) out there that does. It seems like most of this in depth information (on new skimmers, etc) stays pretty guarded for a few years as the originators use the info to make/sell the latest and greatest. I haven't really been able to find any other technical books on the subject at all. Has anyone else found any other truly useful references on the subject?
