Re: Book about water chemistry

[Doug Brown <debrown@kodak.com>]

There unfortunately does not seem to be many books along the lines of what
most of us on this list would be looking for. Academic areas that study
water chemistry are Geology, Environmental Science and Agricultural Science
(Soil and Aquaculture). Swimming pool books actually touch on a lot of good
stuff too. But of all these, the Ag people deal the most with practical
applications and modification of water chemistry. People such as greens
keepers, sod farm owners, nursery people and fish hatchery workers are the
people you want to get to know as they work with buffers and pH modifiers
all the time and can spew info on carbonate hardness for hours. They don't
seem to write too many books though!

I could give you a list of the text books but you can find them just as
easily by searching the web. I have read (or skimmed) some of them and they
are probably much more technical than you want as you mentioned. That being
said, I've heard the following book contains a good practical overview of
freshwater chemistry management, along with other stuff:

Fundamentals of Aquaculture: A Step-By-Step Guide To Commercial Aquaculture
by James W. Avault, Jr.

I am trying to get a copy through the library to check it out but if anyone
beats me to it please report back.

- -Doug Brown
debrown@kodak.com