Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The second revised edition of this textbook on aquarium related science for the professional and home aquarist, describing the basic biological and ecological principles which function in aquaria along with ecological research and the practical issues of constucting and maintaining aquaria.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction. Physical Environment
• The Envelope--Shapes, Materials, and Construction
• Temperature--Control of Heating and Cooling
• Water Composition--The Management of Salinity, Hardness, and Evaporation
• Water Motion--Waves, Currents, and Plumbing
• Tides--Simulating the Effects of Sun and Moon
• The Input of Solar Energy--Lighting Requirements
• Substrate--The Management of Rock, Mud, and Sand
• Biochemical Environment
• Metabolism--Respiration, Photosynthesis, and Biological Loading
• Organisms and Gas Exchange--Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and pH
• Nitrogenous Wastes and Nutrients--Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and the Micronutrients
• Control of the Biochemical Environment--Filters, Bacteria, and the Algal Turf Scrubber
• Biological Structure
• Community Structure--The Framework
• Trophic Structure--Ecosystems and the Dynamics of Food Chains
• Primary Producers--Plants that Grow on the Bottom
• Herbivores--Predators of Plants
• Carnivores--Predators of Animals
• Plankton and Planktivores
• The Floating Plants and Animals and Their Predators
• Detritus and Detrivores
• The Dynamics of Muddy Bottoms
• Symbionts and Other Feeders
• Ecological Systems in Microcosms, Mesocosms, and Aquaria
• Models of Coral Reef Ecosystems
• A Subarctic Shore--The Maine Coast
• Estuaries--Ecosystem Modeling
• Where Fresh and Salt Waters Interact
• Freshwater Ecosystem Models
• Summary
• Microcosms, Mesocosms, and Aquaria as Ecosystem Model--A Synthesis
• Index