Customer Rating:  
Summary: It's a jungle in there!
Comment: I have the first edition of this book along with a dozen others on tropical fish and nearly 40 years of experience. It's only since reading "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" that this hobby has really become satisfying.
First of all, I'm a lazy aquarist. I hate spending my weekends changing or testing the water, or cleaning filters. If you want live plants, there is daily dosing of ferts, fancy substrates, CO2 injection and every six months you need to swap out your aging light bulbs for new, brighter ones. None of this stuff is inexpensive or any fun.
So... along comes Diana Walstad and she says you don't need to do any of those things. She recommends a soil substrate, cap it with a little gravel, add plants, fish and fish food, toss in a little light for a low maintenance, healthy aquarium. It's a little more complicated than that but essentially she's completely correct. The fish mulm fertilizes the plants, the plants pull the toxins from the water and you remove the toxins from the tank when you prune the plants. What a simple concept that really works!
Right now I have three tanks (30, 45, & 55 gal) set up the Walstad way. One is two years old and the other two are nearly a year old. They house over 100 fish. They almost never get their water changed. By order of time consumption, my chores go like this: pruning plants, adding water lost to evaporation, adding fish food, cleaning the sponge pre-filters for the submerged circulating pumps. That's it. If we're having company, I might scrape the thin coat of algae off the glass to receive rave reviews.
To be honest, none of my tanks are carefully manicured aquascapes. If you want that much control, you might need to go the hi-tech way. My aquariums are a mish-mash of Amazon Swords, Crypts, Anubias, Wisteria, Hornwort, Frogbit and Ludwigias (plant names). They don't look shaped by man, but slices of real nature captured in a small footprint. It's a jungle in there. More importantly, the plants equalize most of the chemical imbalances which occur within a closed ecosystem. It's great when your fish die of old age instead of some mysterious malady.
If I have one criticism of this book it's the level of technicality. Ms. Walstad goes to great lengths to justify abandoning traditional aquarium techniques for her low-tech, low maintenance methods. To that end, the book will appear a bit overwhelming to some. I think she should issue a companion book which focuses on what to do and leave out most of the why (and add more pictures for the reading impaired...wink). This will more effectively capture the beginner who far too often tries and fails, or gives up due to burdensome maintenance routines. With her book, there is no reason we can't ALL get it right and enjoy fish keeping at the same time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Little heavy on the chemistry--very heavy on working results!
Comment: Read this book cover to cover and some of the science was little deep, but the author really just uses the science to explain why the methods work. She fully and completely lays out the steps to be successful even if you can't master the science behind it.
After reading this book, I had to try it. I set up a small 10 gallon tank following her methods exactly. It's only been three weeks but the plant growth is better than any of my other tanks. Thick, lush growth already popping up out of the water and no algae. I had elevated ammonia levels on the third and fourth days, then things settled down. Plants and Fish are doing great. Of course, time will tell but so far I am sold.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A must-read for all real aquarists
Comment: For those really interested in maintaining a planted aquarium and those looking for reading on chemical and biological interaction between soil, water and plants this book is a mandatory one. Walstad exposes on a perfect scientific way (but still readable) how a mini-ecosystem like an aquarium works.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very interesting
Comment: This book has a lot of scientific data and an analytical feel to it. The writter put a lot of thought into this book and provided a lot of information not found in most aquarium books. She focuses on low tech tanks which is nice for those of us that don't have a lot of money to invest in equipment but want the look of a planted tank. I recommend this book to anyone that has a low tech tank or is interested in a different perspective on planted tanks.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Practical, yet scientific.
Comment: This book can be useful to the layman and has the depth for the pro.
The author clearly knows her subject and has the technical expertise. The biology and chemistry is over my head (it has been a loooong time since taking those classes), but it is actually readable. Some items simply have to be taken on faith if you haven't got the background to fully comprehend everything. In other words, one does not have to understand 'redox equations' to get the content.
I haven't tried her methods yet, but I am intrigued. It goes against most of my library, but she makes a lot of sense.
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