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Great question. The only way to truly know if the tank has cycled is to test every few days. Since you only waited five days, I'm going to assume the tank has started the cycle. 0.5 ppt ammonia isn't terrible, but keep an eye on it to see if it creeps any higher. Test every couple days for ammonia and nitrite. I'm guessing you will start to see nitrite show up quite soon. Once that happens, then your ammonia will start to go down. If the ammonia starts getting close to 1.0ppm, I would do a larger water change, say 40-50 percent, just to protect your fish. You could also add a product like Seachem prime, which converts harmful ammonia into something non-toxic (although it will still show up in your ammonia test). Sounds like everything is actually going to plan right now, so just keep testing. -Matthew

:-)

Razor blades work so well! I'm a huge fan of the Flipper... but I pretty much only use the stainless steel blade for cleaning

Personally, I think doing more smaller changes is by far better. Less shock for your animals, and it keeps you in the habit! ;-)

I do like the RedSea Max Nano... I just think it's might be a bit overkill for a true beginner. But I've owned one and loved it!

Thank you so much for this comment. You are appreciated and I'm glad we are there to help! :-)

That is too kind of you, and best of luck with your new tank! You may just become addicted to this hobby like the rest of us! :-)

This is part 03 of 05

Heck yeah! The light is perfect for anemones, and the setting we show you in the course is set up for anemones. I started with 8 small anemones, and now have over 20 and you can't even see the aquascape! I think we are going to be posting a before/after picture on our Instagram soon, so check it out.

So with 2 tangs, butterfly, and angelfish, you are looking at a minimum of 120 gallons... maybe larger.

That's true for sure... RODI water just helps solve a lot of long term problems... depending on your water source.

Best practice is to absolutely set up a quarantine tank. I know it's not what most hobbyists want to hear, but it's the truth. That being said, I bet 90% of saltwater hobbyists don't do this. But the issue is that if your tank is happy and healthy, and you add in a new fish without quarantine, there is a chance everything will go just fine, and in fact, many hobbyists do this all the time and seem to have no problem. That's because they've been lucky. Adding a new fish to the tank just runs the risk of adding disease, disease you may not see yet on the fish. And what can happen is that new fish can get sick, spread it to everybody else, and then unfortunately wipe out all of the fish. It's super sad. And if that happens, you have to wait over two months before adding another fish just to make sure the disease is gone. You could ask the Local Fish Store if they would qt for you. Or you can just set up a super simple QT by picking up a 10 gallon aquarium from your local big box store, some large pieces of pipe for hiding, a hob filter and heater, and you've got a temporary quarantine that you can break down in three weeks when you are done. Hope that helps!

@@HelloReef so if i set up a seperate tank with filter and heater, do i need to cycle it like the helloreef tank? Or do I just fill it with new seawater when a fish is sick and do weekly water changes?

You don't need to cycle it, but you will want to test for ammonia, maybe get an ammonia neutralizer like Seachem Prime, and then do large weekly water changes. :-)

:-)

these are definitely good points all around!

Unlikely if you used reef sand and not something like playground sand. Are the fluctuating parameters causing any. noticeable problems with your tank?

@@HelloReef Yes, there are many parameter changes in my aquarium. I used terrarium sand for the aquarium

Hmm... I'm not familiar with how terrarium sand would effect a reef aquarium. That could be the problem.

@@HelloReef thanks for responding

Great question. You can, but I didn't. The main concern is to overload the tank with too much bioload. Even thought the tank is already cycled, as you add more animals, it increased the bioload, and the biological filter will need time to multiply to catch up. So adding slowly is always better.

Well that's super kind of you! It's a new channel so it will take time to grow! And I'll add flow concepts to my list! :-)

Great point and the honest answer? It didn’t fit! But, there is an easy solution. Check out the pre made Innovative Marine mesh screen. The one for the 15 gallon Nuvo fusion fits perfectly! www.bulkreefsupply.com/15-nuvo-fusion-safescreen-mesh-screen-lid-innovative-marine.html?queryID=9683eadab18df44b5890171197996129&objectID=15852&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

Second this. I purchased this cover and it is a perfect fit for my HelloReef. My clowns definitely like to jump so get the screen before you move them into your display tank.

First off, love the phosphate kit... use it weekly. And to be honest... I've never used the calibration check set. They come factory calibrated and I've never had a problem with mine. So depending on your comfort level, you could probably just never buy it!

​@HelloReef hello, do I really need to set up and maintain a whole new "quarentine tank" for introducing new fish and for potential sick fish? There has to be an eaiser way to deal with a sick fish than setting up a whole new tank.... esp for this little HelloReef tank.

that's a great question. As of now you can only access the course with the kit. The 50 videos in the course are 100% specific to the kit, so you will definitely get the most value out of the videos with the kit. But I understand that unfortunately right now the HelloReef kit is only available in the USA. So let me talk to my team about our options here. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and ask a great question. -Matthew

that is so kind of you! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave such a nice comment, and I'm super glad to hear my videos were helpful! -Matthew

Indeed good sir!

Thanks Darren!

😀😀

It releases tomorrow!!😀

It releases tomorrow!!😀

Yes, I think quarantine is one of the most important things. While I absolutely love our HelloReef kit, one frustration I've had is there was no place for quarantine. I mean, how do you tell a beginner to set up a tank, and then set up a second tank to qt fish. It's just so complicated. But you just gave me an idea... Our goal with this kit was to take a total beginner to proficient in 6 weeks. But, a lot of them are going to move on to something else, maybe a bigger tank. I think what our program needs is a video near the end of the course all about the importance of quarantine, and an explanation as to why we didn't tell them to do it when setting up their tank. Thanks for this great reminder @notso987! -matthew

Hopefully soon! Europe is on the way so hopefully not long after! And thanks for the kind words! They mean a lot! :-)

Totally get that. I think most hobbyists go bigger and bigger. My own journey was similar. My first big tank was a 120 gallon. That was right when I started turning my hobby into my career. I grew to have 7 different tanks, each with a different biotope. I hired somebody to come in once a week and do my water testing and water changes so I could focus on content creation. Over time it got a little to much for me, and now I have two tanks. My HelloReef which is amazingly full of nems, and a soon to arrive Waterbox 80 gallon peninsula. That will house a special project for the next six months, and then I'm thinking something really cool! Thanks for sharing a part of your journey, I enjoy hearing about it! -Matthew

Super jealous! Wish I had an amazing fish store that close to me! You're going to love the HR kit!

@@HelloReef yeah we don’t have much in Houston that I’ve seen besides a few small shops. I’m excited to just go drool lol

Thanks! And I keep asking our team when Europe is going to start! Hopefully sooner rather than later!

:-)

Yes! What do you want to build? Any specific pets? A HelloReef tank?

That makes a lot of sense!

HelloReef is actually owned by the same company, Aperture, so we can interchange our videos... which is awesome!

@@HelloReef Oh I had no idea, sorry.😅

No worries at all! How could you know! :-)

Not yet... but we are working on it!

Yeah, I would say pushing it. I mean if you up your filtration you can handle the bioload, but I'm more worried about space. I don't think anybody will bother the goby, but maybe the firefish? You will definitely want to up your filtration if you try it with either more frequent and/or larger water changes, or maybe adding a hang on the back protein skimmer or refugium. Let me know how it goes!

That is a great question. The good thing about the goby/shrimp combo is that they aren't aggressive and your grammas shouldn't bother them. But it is almost doubling the bioload. So, if you do want to add them into your tank, you will definitely need to start water testing. If you notice your nitrates and phosphates start to creep up week after week, you will need to do something with your filtration. Most likely that will mean making sure you change out your filter sock every three days and doing larger and/or more frequent water changes. You could also invest in either a hang on the back protein skimmer or refugium as well, but the water change is easy enough. I actually use 1/2 tsp of gfo in my tank to help keep my phosphate down, but you need to be careful with gfo. I hope that helps!

@@HelloReef thanks!!! I added a protein skimmer and have been lowering my phosphates steadily mostly by controlling the feeding. (Currently at 0.08) but I’m glad I have the option to add gfo if things get out of control! I’ll probably wait it out until things stabilize but great to know that that could be an option!!

I added a shrimp goby pair a few months back to my nano tank and they basically just dig a whole under a rock and never leave. Super cool to see and nothing really bothers them. They entire range is probably a 15x15cm area.

:-)

:-)

There are a lot of good small options. The trick with rubble rock is just trying to keep it clean. You probably can't do a pistol shrimp goby, unless the rubble is small enough for the shrimp to move around easily. Rubble rock will catch a lot of fish food and waste, so be sure you stay diligent with using a gravel vacuum every week to clean a portion of the rubble. All of the fish I mentioned in this video will work well, but there are also some other small options out there.

My diamond goby cleans my Hawaiian black.

I love diamond gobies! Do you think it would be too big for a 15 gallon tank @audiomanmik?

@@HelloReef depends on the size I think. I had one which grew to 7 inches over the course of many, many years. She died though :(. My new one is tiny. They grow extremly slow so their size shouldn't be an immediate concern. They rarely occupy space in the water collumn. Once they have material to make a safe space, rocks and substrate. Occasionally feed them directly, which people don't do for some reason. I would say do it. :)

Ah yes, that all makes sense. I forgot how slowly they grow!

Yes it is! I went on a couple week vacation but I'm back and editing the last three as we speak!

@@HelloReef Awesome, hope you enjoyed your vacation:)

:-) @thebankster12

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. While I understand all of the benefits of live rock, I'm not sure it's right for a beginner in a small tank especially. You can't deny that having all of the diverse flora and fauna is a good thing, but it is also expensive and can bring unwanted pests into a tank. In larger tanks those pests can be managed with various CuC members, but in a smaller tank a lot of those members wouldn't work. And beginners just don't have the knowledge base to know what they are seeing, diagnose the pest, and how to get rid of it. But I've been proven wrong before, and I'm sure it will happen again! :-) -Matthew

@@HelloReef you are definitely right about chance of introducing pest into a system. They are fairly easy to deal with even in a nano setting but most beginners aren’t going to know how to tackle the situation or take the time to research themselves. I have a 20 IM all live rock not a single pest with 3+ year old rock. Dry rock in the end is 100% cleaner but I know new hobbyist want the kickstart n don’t want to wait months for rock to cycle and potentially algae outbreaks.

this is great feedback. thanks again for taking the time @zentube-

Totally agree. I can't wait to get my hands on one!

Thanks, will do!

Unfortunately not yet.

Yes it does! It comes with almost everything except water and animals.

No... I've had clownfish do that before and for me, it was because they were being bullied. Usually it was a stronger clown that was pestering it. So keep an eye out and isolate one of them if you can!

@@HelloReef I only have two clown fishes in there and 1 shrimp and ananomi blus snails

I think the other clownfish is Bullying this one 😔 His finds look very bad now.

@HelloReef how often do you think I should be doing water changes in my 15 gallon tank

Sorry just seeing these from over two weeks ago. Yes, I've had one clownfish bully another one before. the only solution was to remove one of them. I recommend doing water changes every week. I do a 4 gallon change every week and it's working fantastically!

Yes! So glad you are taking the plunge into this hobby! It's awesome and super addictive! And you are right about the mistakes. We can definitely avoid mistakes, but we'll always end up making some of our own anyway! I hope your saltwater experience is going well so far! -Matthew

Great questions! For those unfamiliar with starting a saltwater aquarium there are many unknowns and one of the first questions customers ask is “when do I get the fish?” HelloReef helps to answer this not only with interactive guided experience, but also cash in hand for when that purchase needs to happen. This offer can help the uninitiated feel more comfortable diving in and getting started! A we did it that way because we really wanted to include the fish. Originally we were working with some clownfish breeders to supply the fish, but for various reasons, it ended up working better to include the gift card. Hope that answers your questions, and thanks for reaching out. You won't go wrong with this kit for your brother. It's amazing... even though I know I'm biased! -Matthew

Thanks for taking the time to comment and I'm so glad you like the kit! We put a lot of effort and thought into it and I'm so happy to see it doing just what we wanted!

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