Anybody read Reef Aquarium Vol.3 yet?

[Pansy-Paws]

Volume 3 covers the system side of aquariums. The subtitle is "Science, Art, and Technology", which says it pretty well.

For example, ~50 pages on plumbing/electrical, ~60 pages on water parameters, ~50 pages on filtration, ~80 pages on lighting.

Well worth it ... one of the best around

[IJC]

Do the three volumes each deal with different topics? or are they updated versions?

[Pansy-Paws]

I'd summarize them as follows:

Volume 1 - biology of corals, system setup, disease, stony corals, clams
Volume 2 - soft corals, zoos, mushrooms, anenome, propagation
Volume 3 - as described previously, heavy system orientation

As far as duplication, half of volume 1 is probably updated in volume 3, which incorporates the latest trends. Both are still worth it since the stony corals and clams are unique to volume 1.