A good mantra for everyone who got their first tank for Christmas. Rushing to get too many fish doesn't allow your bacteria time to establish. Rushing to get corals before you've learned how to manage your water quality will cause coral problems. Rushing to buy loads of equipment means you might spend money you didn't need to or on gear that isn't right for you. Go slow, be patient, research, research research.
Day one and fish added after cycling.. Hoping for the best! 🤞🏻🤞🏻
What do we recon for a 42 day old tank?
A good mantra for everyone who got their first tank for Christmas. Rushing to get too many fish doesn't allow your bacteria time to establish. Rushing to get corals before you've learned how to manage your water quality will cause coral problems. Rushing to buy loads of equipment means you might spend money you didn't need to or on gear that isn't right for you. Go slow, be patient, research, research research.
Staring to feel like a real reef tank! When do I need to start running the skimmer? I didn’t have it on through the cycle and have been gradually adding fish and coral over the last 3-4 weeks. Currently have 5 small fish, 6 shrimp (4 peppermints), 10ish snails and 7 corals (mostly zoa’s, 1 nem). What signs will tell me I need to turn it on? It’s quite loud so trying to work out if I can have it on a timer to only go at night.
The tank has finally cycled after 5 weeks did a 25% water change to drop nitrate both ammonia and nitrite 0
Just added bacteria and ammonia today. Wish me luck!!
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.
Hi, I found this app while scrolling through FB. My last reef was from 2008 to 2011. I sold it for house move. Now in 2026, I decided to pick it up again. Wow have things changed. My tank is currently only a microbial display. I did a dry rock cycle in bins with starter bacteria. A month+ later I added caribsea fiji pink live sand and some of the wet rock and doing a second cycle with raw shrimp. I’m also trying out PNS Deep Cycle recommended by an LFS.
Hey guys, i just started this acquarium 3 days ago, i have live sand and tomorrow im addimg live rock, some bits while also dosing bacteria. Any tips for beginners?
Tank has hit puberty at week 3
It’s been a long journey since December 20th with my first saltwater tank. Many battles and an ammonia struggle but all a learning process. Fixed all issues and fish are thriving. Tank is finally going through the dirty phase. Nitrites and nitrates still at 0 and ammonia at 0 so hoping we start seeing a shift.
Update on my 5 gallon tank! It’s running a still cycling and I added a mangrove and 2 balls of chaeto. Looking to add a lot more more macro algae. Also I added a damsel to help cycle and he is happy and eating so thank God!