Cycling

Picking up our nano tank in the next few days!! So excited to start cycling this baby! Going to get substrate tomorrow, maybe some new corals too! Hehe 🙊

Hi everyone new to reefing. I’m in my 3rd week waiting for my 1st cycle to complete i think it’s going to be soon. Can’t wait to get started. Not rushing it.

Have fun reefers

Tank is 5 months old in this pic.

1.5 weeks into cycling and we have diatoms!

Long time freshwater guy starting my first salt tank. Just started the cycle yesterday. Hopefully I’ll have more lively pics here in a few weeks.

🌊🐠 New little king settling into his kingdom 👑

A week ago he was hiding in the corner… now he’s exploring the whole tank, playing with the sand, and already begging for food 😂

Still cycling the tank slowly and carefully:

✅ Ammonia: 0

✅ Nitrate: 5

⚠️ Nitrite still showing 0.25

Keeping things simple:

* natural sand setup

* driftwood & stone

* pothos roots

* low stress environment

Thinking maybe 1–2 ghost shrimp soon for enrichment 🦐

It’s honestly amazing watching a tiny Flowerhorn slowly gain confidence and personality day by day. 🌱🐠

Hello community, I’m new here, crossing over from Freshwater🫣. Got me the Hello Reef 15g AIO, then decided I needed two more 5gs to balance out my pico tank shelves- each tank has a stocking plan, but we’ll see how it all pans out. Currently each are somewhere between 3-7 days into cycling with live sand and rock, dosed with Dr. Tim’s ammonia and either Dr. Tim’s or Fritz 9 live bacteria. Hoping to add first inverts by June! I plan to get each tank set up on an ATO soon- I was looking at Fzone as an affordable solution for these smaller tanks. What do ya’ll think?

Day 0

05-23-2026

Took 36 Gal of Water

Cycling my new tank - I find the waiting the hardest. Nitrites are 0,5ppm and Nitrates are 5ppm.

I still need to get my lights and I’m having a hard time deciding.

Day #7 🐠🔥

Unexpected update… the Flowerhorn is arriving EARLIER than expected tomorrow 😅📦🐟

The tank is still in the middle of the nitrogen cycle, but we’re seeing solid progress every day 👨🏻‍🔬

Current parameters:

• Ammonia: ~0.25 ppm

• Nitrite: ~1.0–2.0 ppm

• Nitrate: 5–10+ ppm

• pH: 7.6

✅ Crystal clear water

✅ Nitrites processing

✅ Nitrates increasing

✅ Heavy aeration & filtration running 24/7

✅ Pothos added for natural nitrate absorption 🌱

✅ Beneficial bacteria growing fast

At this point the tank is officially alive — now waiting for the nitrite spike to crash before full stabilization 💪

The Flowerhorn lands tomorrow morning before noon 👑🐠

So now it’s crunch time 😅

Day #6 🐠🔥

The Flowerhorn tank is officially entering the nitrite spike phase of the nitrogen cycle 🔬

Current parameters:

• Ammonia: 0.25 ppm

• Nitrite: 1.0 ppm

• Nitrate: 0.50+ ppm

• pH: 7.6

Good signs:

✅ Beneficial bacteria growing

✅ Ammonia dropping

✅ Nitrates appearing

✅ Crystal clear water

✅ Heavy filtration & oxygenation running 24/7

Now we wait for the nitrites to fall and the ecosystem to stabilize before the Flowerhorn arrives 👑🐟

Slow process… but worth doing right 💯

#Flowerhorn #Aquarium #FishTank #NitrogenCycle #Aquascape #Cichlid #Fishkeeping #MonsterFish

New baby tomini chilling in the nano while the 55gal cycles.

Tang police 🚨 wya