Help & Contact

The New Tank Guide is a built-in 6-phase journey that walks you through your first year of reef keeping — from setting up your tank on day one all the way to an established reef with corals. It lives on your Dashboard and gives you a phase-by-phase checklist, explains what's happening in your tank biologically, and links to detailed blog guides for each phase. It's designed specifically for new reefers who want a structured, step-by-step path.

Phase 1: Tank Setup — get your equipment running, fill with saltwater, add rock and sand. Phase 2: The Cycle — grow beneficial bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Phase 3: The Ugly Phase — survive the normal algae blooms (diatoms, hair algae, cyano) while your tank matures. Phase 4: First Livestock — add your first hardy fish, one at a time. Phase 5: Coral Ready — add your first corals starting with forgiving softies and zoas. Phase 6: Established Reef — your reef is maturing with stable parameters and growing corals.

When you create a new tank, you'll be prompted to start the New Tank Guide. If you skip it during setup, you can enable it from the Dashboard — look for the 'Start New Tank Guide' card. If your tank is already several months old, the guide will suggest which phase you're most likely in based on your setup date so you can jump in at the right point.

During Phase 1, the guide asks whether you're using dry rock, live rock, or a mix. This changes your Phase 2 checklist significantly. Dry rock has no existing bacteria, so you'll need to dose ammonia and add bottled bacteria to start the nitrogen cycle. Live rock already has beneficial bacteria from the ocean and will produce its own ammonia spike from die-off during shipping — no dosing needed. The guide adjusts your checklist automatically based on your answer.

Yes. Each phase has a checklist of required steps — the guide won't advance automatically until those are complete, but you can always tap 'Skip ahead anyway' to move forward. This is useful if your tank was already partially set up before you started using NextUpReef. Required steps are marked REQ in the checklist. Optional steps are recommended but won't block you from advancing.

When you advance past Phase 6, you earn the 'Reef Established' badge and a celebration screen appears. The Journey card on your Dashboard transitions to show your established reef status. You keep all the badges you earned along the way — one per phase completed. The New Tank Guide is finished, and you're in full NextUpReef mode: tracking parameters, building your coral collection, and appearing in the community feed.

Yes. Go to Settings and find the New Tank Guide section. You can leave the guide at any time — this removes the Journey card from your Dashboard but keeps all your progress and badges. You can resume from Settings by tapping 'Resume New Tank Guide', which lets you pick up at the phase you were on. Leaving the guide never deletes any tank data, logs, or badges.

No — it's completely optional. If you already have an established tank or prefer to track without the guided structure, you can skip or exit the guide entirely and use NextUpReef normally. All the core features — logging, scores, reminders, community, analytics — work the same whether you're using the guide or not.

When you create an account, a quick 2-step onboarding walks you through setting your display name, naming your first tank, choosing your reef type (Mixed, SPS, LPS, Softies, Nano, ULNS, or Fish Only), entering your display and sump gallons, and selecting which parameters you test. It takes about 30 seconds — then you're ready to start logging.

Your display name is the name shown on your public community profile — for example 'Adam' or 'ReefKeeper42'. It's set during onboarding and can be changed at any time in Settings. Your display name is visible to other reefers in the Community feed alongside your tank's scores, parameters, photos, and dosing info. If you'd rather not appear in the community, you can opt out per-tank at any time.

Go to the Tank tab, tap the + button in the top header, and fill in your new tank details. Each tank tracks its own parameters, logs, scores, water changes, and reminders independently. You can switch between tanks using the dropdown in the top header bar.

Dashboard — your at-a-glance view with Reef Score, Stability Score, latest parameter values, upcoming reminders, badges, and personalized recommendations. Tank — manage your tank details, equipment, livestock, dosing products, and monthly photos. Log — enter your test results with real-time color feedback. Reminders — set up water change schedules and maintenance tasks with push notification alerts. Analytics — deep dive into trends with interactive charts, time-in-range stats, stability grades, and NO3:PO4 ratio tracking.

Tap the Log tab at the bottom. You'll see a card for each parameter you track. Type your value or use the +/− buttons to start from your last reading. You can log one parameter at a time or all at once — whatever fits your workflow. Hit 'Save' and the screen stays put so you can keep entering more. A green 'Saved!' banner confirms each save.

No. Leave any field blank and it's simply skipped — blank fields are never saved as zero. This way you can log alkalinity now, come back in 10 minutes to log calcium, and both values are tracked separately with their own timestamps.

Yes. When logging, you can change the date to backdate an entry — useful if you forgot to log yesterday's test. You can also edit or delete previous log entries from the log history.

It shows the most recent value you logged for that specific parameter, along with how long ago it was logged (e.g. '3h ago', 'yesterday'). This is pulled from your last 20 logs, so even if you log params individually across multiple sessions, each one remembers its own last value.

Green means your value is within your target range. Yellow means you're close to the boundary — not quite in range but not far off. Red means you're clearly outside your target. The card border, input field, and indicator all change in real time as you type.

NextUpReef supports 10 parameters: Alkalinity (dKH), Calcium (ppm), Magnesium (ppm), Nitrate (ppm), Nitrite (ppm), Phosphate (ppm), Salinity, pH, Temperature (°F), and Ammonia (ppm). You choose which ones to display based on what you test.

For established tanks, 1-2 times per week gives strong trend data. During new setups, after adding livestock, or when making dosing adjustments, daily logging helps you spot changes faster. Your Stability Score rewards consistent testing frequency.

Yes. On the Log screen, tap 'Edit' (pencil icon) to open the parameter editor. Each parameter shows the recommended range for your reef type, and you can set your own custom min and max. Your custom targets are used everywhere — Log, Dashboard, and Analytics all respect them.

Default ranges are set based on your tank type. SPS tanks have tighter alkalinity and calcium ranges than soft coral tanks, ULNS systems have lower nutrient targets, and Fish Only tanks have more relaxed ranges across the board. You can always override them with custom values.

On the Log screen, tap 'Edit' to open the parameter editor. Toggle parameters on or off — recommended ones are marked with 'REC'. The 6 core parameters (Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Nitrate, Phosphate, Salinity) are recommended for all reef types. pH, Temperature, Nitrite, and Ammonia are optional.

Go to the Reminders tab and tap 'Set Up Water Changes'. Choose your frequency (Weekly, Biweekly, or Monthly), select which day of the week, and enter your water change percentage. The app tracks when you last did a water change and shows status cards — overdue, due today, or upcoming.

Maintenance reminders track recurring tasks like changing filter socks, replacing carbon, swapping RO/DI filters, cleaning equipment, and more. Choose from quick-add presets or create your own custom reminders with any name and frequency. When adding a reminder, pick 'Just did it' to start the timer from now, or 'It's due on...' to set a specific next-due date.

NextUpReef sends three types of push notifications: Testing reminders (if you haven't logged in X days — you choose the interval), Water change alerts (day before, day of, and overdue), and Maintenance alerts (day before, day of, and overdue). You can toggle each type on or off in Settings under Notifications.

On the Reminders tab, tap the green 'Done' button on any reminder card. It logs the completion, awards relevant badges, and automatically calculates the next due date based on your frequency. You can also tap '+1 Day' to snooze a reminder.

Yes. Any reminders that are overdue, due today, or coming up this week appear as a callout on your Dashboard. Tap it to jump straight to the Reminders tab.

Your Reef Score (0-100) is a composite measure of your tank's overall health based on how well your parameters stay within target ranges. It factors in recency of logs, parameter balance, water change consistency, equipment diversity, and tank maturity. Tap the score card for a full breakdown.

The Stability Score (0-100) measures how consistent your parameters are over time. Low variation in key readings like alkalinity and calcium earns a higher score. It rewards steady husbandry over chasing 'perfect' numbers — a tank consistently at 8.0 dKH scores better than one swinging between 7.5 and 9.0.

Your scores are compared against other tanks of the same type (Mixed, SPS, LPS, etc.). You'll see your rank like '#1 of 5 Mixed Reef tanks', the community average score, and how your testing habits compare. Only tanks that are set to public participate in rankings.

Badges are achievements you earn based on your reefkeeping activity — like logging your first test, maintaining a streak, completing water changes, uploading monthly tank photos, or hitting score milestones. There are 60+ badges across multiple categories including Milestones, Mastery, Consistency, and Community. Badges are tied to your account, not a specific tank.

On the Tank tab, you'll find a photo section where you can upload one photo per month to document your reef's growth. Each month gets its own slot — nothing from previous months is ever overwritten unless you choose to replace it. Over time you build a full visual growth timeline of your reef.

Once per month. After uploading your photo for the current month, the button changes to show when the next upload slot opens (the 1st of the following month). You can replace your current month's photo any time before the month ends.

Yes. Tap 'History' on the photo section of your Tank tab to view all your monthly photos. Each one has a Delete option. Deleted photos are removed permanently and cannot be recovered.

Only if your tank is set to public in the Community feed. If your tank is public, your most recent photo and full monthly growth timeline are visible on your community profile. You can opt out by setting your tank to private — go to the Tank tab and toggle 'Show in Community' off, or go to Settings and use 'Hide All' under Community.

'First Snapshot' is awarded when you upload your first tank photo. 'Photo Historian' is awarded when you upload a photo every month for 12 consecutive months. Both show on your profile and community card.

The Community feed is an in-app leaderboard showing public tanks ranked by their combined Reef + Stability score. You can browse other reefers' tanks, see their parameter readings, photos, dosing regimens, water change habits, and livestock counts. It's a way to learn from what's working in real tanks.

When your tank is public, other reefers can see: your display name, tank name, tank type, size (display and sump gallons), setup date, Reef Score, Stability Score, most recent parameter readings, salt mix brand, dosing products, water change schedule, livestock count, badge count, and monthly photo history.

Yes — new tanks are public by default so the community leaderboard stays active and useful for everyone. You can opt out at any time with one tap. Your email address, password, and personal account information are never shared publicly — only the reef data listed above.

Two ways. Per-tank: go to the Tank tab, scroll to the 'Reef Community' row, and toggle 'Show in Community' off. For all tanks at once: go to Settings, scroll to the Community section, and tap 'Hide All'. Your data is removed from the public feed immediately.

Yes — tap any tank card in the Community feed to open its full detail view. You'll see 90-day parameter averages, min/max ranges, % time in range, recent values, dosing regimen, water change schedule, and monthly photo timeline.

Tanks are ranked by combined score — the average of Reef Score and Stability Score. Only tanks that have logged at least one parameter in the past 365 days and are set to public appear. Rankings update after every log.

It's the most recent reading for that parameter. Below it you'll see trend direction (up/down/stable), standard deviation, time-in-range percentage, and a stability grade. Tap any parameter card to expand the full chart view.

The percentage of your logged values that fall within your target range over the selected time period. 80%+ is considered good. This uses your custom targets if you've set them.

The ratio between your nitrate and phosphate levels. The ideal range is roughly 100:1 for most reef tanks. The Analytics page tracks this ratio over time and shows whether it's balanced, NO3-dominant, or PO4-dominant.

Equipment list (skimmers, lights, pumps, reactors), livestock inventory (fish, corals, invertebrates), dosing products, salt mix brand, water change schedule, and monthly growth photos. Tank age is calculated from your setup date and displayed at the top.

NextUpReef supports 7 tank types: Mixed Reef, SPS, LPS, Softies, Nano, ULNS, and Fish Only. Each has tailored default parameter ranges and scoring targets. You can change your tank type at any time in Edit Tank.

Yes. Go to the Tank tab, tap 'Edit Tank', and you can update your tank name, display gallons, sump gallons, tank type, salt mix brand, and setup date at any time.

Your email address, password, and account credentials are always private and never shared. Your reef data is shared publicly only if your tank is set to public in the Community feed. You can opt out per-tank or for all tanks at any time.

Yes. Go to Settings and scroll to the bottom. 'Delete Account' will permanently remove all your tanks, logs, equipment, livestock, reminders, photos, and badge data. This cannot be undone.

In Settings, tap 'Change Password' to receive a reset link via email. Your display name can be edited directly at the top of the Settings page — tap 'Edit' next to your name. Remember, your display name is visible to other reefers if your tank is public.

By agreeing to our Terms of Service when creating your account, you acknowledge that your email may be used to send product updates, reef tips, and occasional announcements from NextUpReef. You can unsubscribe from any marketing email at any time. We never sell your email to third parties.

NextUpReef is free to download with a generous free plan. New accounts get a free 30-day Pro trial with no credit card required. After the trial, the free plan includes parameter logging, Reef & Stability Scores, charts up to 90 days, up to 3 reminders, and community access. Pro adds AI tools, advanced analytics, tank journal, Apex integration, and unlimited reminders at $4.99/month or $39.99/year.

Every new account gets full Pro access free for 30 days with no credit card required. At the end of the trial you can subscribe to keep Pro, or continue on the free plan. No charges happen automatically.

Pro includes: Reef AI Advisor & Chat, AI Photo Parameter Logging, Tank Journal with photos, full historical analytics (6M, 1Y, All), Neptune Apex integration, Shelly smart outlet control, automated dosing and lighting, unlimited reminders, and multiple tanks.

Pro is $4.99/month or $39.99/year (save 33%, just $3.33/month). New accounts get a 30-day free trial. Cancel anytime from your App Store or Google Play settings.

After 30 days your account moves to the free plan. All your data stays intact. You lose access to Pro-only features until you subscribe, but nothing is deleted. The app shows a banner with the option to upgrade.

Go to Settings > NextUpReef Pro > Restore Purchases. This restores any active subscription linked to your Apple ID or Google account.

Reef AI Advisor generates a full analysis of your tank based on your actual data -- parameters, trends, equipment, livestock, dosing, and water change history. It tells you what is going well, what needs attention, and specific actions to take. Refreshes every 24 hours. Pro feature.

Anything reef-related -- why is my alkalinity dropping, what corals suit my tank type, is my nitrate too high for SPS, how do I reduce phosphate, and more. The AI knows your specific tank setup. You get 10 messages per day on Pro.

Tap AI Scan on the Log tab, take a photo of your test kit, and AI reads the values and fills in the log form for you. Works with Hanna checkers, API, Red Sea, Salifert, Milwaukee, and more. You review values before saving. Pro feature.

Yes. The AI has full context about your tank -- type, size, parameters, equipment, livestock, dosing, and water change schedule. Answers are specific to your setup, not generic reef advice.

Once every 24 hours. Your last analysis is always visible. A countdown in the app shows exactly when your next refresh is available.

Connect your Apex in Settings > My Tank > Neptune Apex. Enter your Apex local IP address, username, and password. NextUpReef pulls temperature, pH, salinity, ORP, and Trident readings (alk, ca, mg) directly from your controller. Must be on same WiFi as Apex. Pro feature.

Temperature, pH, salinity, ORP, and if you have a Trident: alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium. These map directly to NextUpReef parameter fields.

NextUpReef supports Shelly Plug US Gen4 smart outlets and Neptune Apex controllers today. Shelly outlets automate dosing, lighting, heaters, skimmers, and return pumps directly from the app. The NextUpReef Hub is coming soon. See nextupreef.com/devices for the full list.

Shelly Plug US Gen4 is a Wi-Fi smart outlet available on Amazon for $24.99. Add it in NextUpReef, tag it as a doser, heater, light, skimmer, or return pump, and control it from the app. Schedules are saved to the outlet -- dosing and lighting run 24/7 even if your phone is off or internet is down. No Shelly app needed.

No. Shelly outlets connect directly to your home Wi-Fi. NextUpReef talks to them over your local network -- no cloud relay needed. Once a schedule is saved to the outlet, it runs completely on its own.

Yes. Plug your dosing pump into a Shelly outlet, calibrate it once in the app, set your daily mL target, and NextUpReef writes the schedule to the outlet. It doses automatically every day. Full guide at nextupreef.com/blog/how-to-setup-dosing-shelly.

Yes. Link a Shelly outlet to a light fixture and set an on/off schedule with ramp times. NextUpReef pushes the schedule to the outlet. Shelly handles the on/off and timer side.

The Shelly Flood Sensor Gen4 ($39.99) is a Wi-Fi leak detector. Place it under your sump or ATO and it alerts you if water is detected. It also has a temperature sensor. Full NextUpReef integration is coming soon.

Visit nextupreef.com/devices for the full list with Amazon purchase links. Shelly outlets and flood sensors are available now. The NextUpReef Hub will be sold directly by us at launch.

The NextUpReef Hub is our own dedicated reef controller that stays connected 24/7. It will support pH and temperature probe inputs, Shelly outlet control, leak sensor support, and deep app integration. Coming soon -- join the waitlist at nextupreef.com/hub.

Shelly outlets are third-party smart plugs that work great for control and dosing today. The Hub will be our own hardware with dedicated probe inputs and deeper integration. Shelly is the smart power layer -- the Hub adds monitoring and intelligence on top.

The Apex starts at $319 with a large professional ecosystem. The NextUpReef Hub will be a more affordable, app-first alternative with AI Advisor, Reef Scores, and community built in. See the comparison at nextupreef.com/blog/nextupreef-hub-vs-neptune-apex.

We are targeting a 2025/2026 launch starting from $179. Join the waitlist at nextupreef.com/hub to be notified first and get early access pricing.

No. NextUpReef works great without any hardware. The Hub is an optional upgrade for users who want a dedicated always-on controller.