We've been playing Nemo's Reef in our house for a while and I find it frustrating that there isn't a "real" guide to the game. We are currently working on Level 18 and it has only just occurred to me to start our guide. Our little one did most of the navigating for the first few levels and now we've kind of taken over the tasks.
The first smart move we made was making a large bed of Fan Coral plants next to a large bed of Yellow Table plants. They cost very little and yield twice per minute. When you first begin, your reef is relatively small; ours has expanded significantly but here is what I'm referring to:
Hopefully those show up... Right now, we have about 15 Fan Corals next to 20 Yellow Table plants. The reason for doing this is that every 30 seconds they will bloom with algae and sand dollars, respectively. So if you're in need of money to purchase a new plant or algae to feed a new plant, you can get more quickly. Our reef also has more of these grouped around the outskirts of the reef so that we can just cycle all the way around every 30 seconds and get tons of both plants. As you can see, we have accumulated a large supply of both algae and sand dollars.
You will want to keep a good stockpile of these, as you'll need money to buy new plants but more than that, you'll need algae to feed the new plants. The more expensive a plant is, the more algae it seems to use - at least that is my impression.
You also need pearls, which are very difficult to earn. You can also purchase them ($4.99 for 220 pearls), but you can also get them by signing up for stuff. We got 350 pearls for signing up for a free credit monitoring service that I cancelled as soon as I got my pearls a few minutes later. If you wait to earn them, it will take an eternity to get through the levels (and it already does...).
As for the walk-through, you're going to be given tasks every level that you must complete to attract new fish, move up levels, or expand your reef. The ? next to a fish on the left side will explain your tasks. When you start out, I believe the fish is usually Marlin, though sometimes it is Nemo or Dory. As you progress through the levels, the tasks will get more time consuming. One tip that I learned was that if it tells you to grow a Mystery Seed, don't use pearls to speed up the growth or you won't get credit for the plant.
**A note on the pearls: don't speed up growth unless you really want to get moving along; you're going to need lots of pearls as you get higher up in levels. Our task in Level 18 was to grow 8 Extraordinary Mystery Seeds, which cost 10 pearls each.
You will attract certain creatures to the reef and some of them have requirements you'll need to meet in order to get them to stay. These are the ones I can remember:
Bloat: Bloat's Ring of Fire
Bubbles: Bubble's Stone Chest
Dory: Dory's Tiki Heads
Yellow Jellyfish: Yellow Pillow (if I recall - sorry)
Green Seahorse: Green seaweed cluster (it's a ball shape for 100 sand dollars - the straight seaweed doesn't work)
Brown Seadragon: Green and Brown straight seaweed, planted right next to one another
**You'll find that you have to plant some things right next to each other; the task will ordinarily direct you to put them where they need to go.
Each level requires you to get a certain number of XP (the little purple stars that come out of plants when you "harvest" them). This goes up with every level. We are on level 18 and it demands 58,900 XP. With how our reef is set up with tons of Fan Coral and Yellow Table Plants (as well as a good number Giant Green Seabushes, Fruit Loop Corals, and Sunset Cups), we get around 100 XP every time around the reef.
When you're buying new plants at the Nursery, watch to see how often and how much they will yield. Corals will give you more algae (Carnation Corals give the most but the Christmas Tree Coral gives you almost as much at once and can be harvested more often), Living plants give you sand dollars (Yellow Plateau plants give the most but only every 12 hours but Giant Brown Grass gives 10 every 30 minutes), Ornamental and Rare don't have any yields.
Our reef has a number of Giant Brown Seagrass (10 sand dollars every 30 minutes), Pipe Sponges (various colors give different yields - Blue gives 20 every 30 minutes but cost 10 pearls; we have lots of Orange for 10 sand dollars every hour), Yellow Table Plants (2 every 30 seconds) and Giant Green Seabushes (5 every 4 minutes).
For algae, we have tons of Fan Coral, Blue Mushroom (10 algae every hour), Sunset Cups (5 every 5 minutes), Fruit Loop Coral (3 every minute), Carnation Coral (30 every 12 hours), Christmas Tree Coral (22 every 6 hours), Bamboo Coral (50 every 24 hours - we were tasked with planting three after we already had that many, so everyday we get loads of algae from them), and Cup Coral (15 every 6 hours).
Some of those you'll have to work up the levels to earn. When you're buying plants, note the tiny algae under the name of the plant - that tells you how many algae you will need to feed the plant to make it grow complete. For example, the Cup Coral needs 300 algae every 5 minutes to grow (each growth cycle has a time period noted next to the algae and they all take three cycles). This means you not only have to pay 700 sand dollars for the plant, you'll also need 900 algae in a short period of time to grow the plant.
These plants also take up plenty of room - most require 4 squares (you'll see what I mean if you try to move any of them) but some ornamental plants use only one. We have loads of these to fill single spaces. My tip for planting is to bunch them close together - you will eventually need that space. For items you will be regularly harvesting, keep those piled up next to one another. I can't screenshot our entire reef, as it is too large, but as I noted above, the entire top "row" is filled with Fan Coral and Yellow Table Plants (as well as tons of single square ornamentals like Giant Dark Yellow Seaweed, Bright Green Marine Bonsai, Red/Lilac Cirripathes, Seaweed Clusters, Sea Pens, Turquoise/Lilac Stems, Flat Rocks, Mineral Hedges, Straight Seaweed, Brown Cactus Coral, Pink/Lavender Sea Blossoms, and Red/Violet/Silver Branches). As you move along the edges of the reef, we have placed Fan Coral all along one edge and Yellow Table Plants along the opposite edge. In those bunches there are also Green Seabushes and Fruit Loop Coral, respectively. The point is for us to sweep around the reef, harvesting algae and sand dollars quickly. If you plant them right, you'll never want for either for very long. Our stockpile is up to about 40,000 sand dollars and 30,000 algae.
Because our daughter is obsessed with planting new plants, we have no more space for large plants and have been waiting for an expansion for some time. You can dig up plants if necessary (in the Menu, select MOVE and tap the plant you want to dig up, then tap the red shovel - it will confirm that you want to sell the plant). You would also move plants using this tool - drag the plant to the desired location (make sure all the grid squares are green) and tap the green check mark to save.
When we began level 18, Dory's tasks were supposed to lead to a reef expansion but they didn't. I don't think the game is intentionally deceptive by any means, but sometimes it seems to pull a fast one on you. Another example is the Mystery Seed. They started out at 300 sand dollars and took a small fortune of algae to grow (200 every 3.5 hours, I believe), plus they take FOREVER to complete; many times we've planted them (now they are 800 sand dollars) and they have turned into Red Branches, which are a 10 sand dollar ornamental plant. The Extraordinary Mystery Seed will always be a Rare Plant but that does NOT mean it's going to be a new one or attract any new fish.
As for Rare Fish, at our level of high-intensity play, we still have very few to speak of. At Level 18, we have the following:
Green Parrotfish
Pink Emperor Angelfish
Yellow Lionfish
Yellow Dusky Batfish
Green Trumpetfish
Orange Dusky Batfish
Short Brown Seamoth
White Clown Frogfish
Orange Lionfish
Red Clown Frogfish
Our guests include:
Brown Seadragon
Yellow Jellyfish
Green Seahorse
Friends:
Nemo
Marlin
Dory
Bloat
Bubbles
To earn more XP, you'll need fancy plants that give off a bunch. They don't list this when you buy plants, so here's what I've learned so far:
------------------------XP-------Yield--------Time
Yellow Table Plant------ 2XP --- 2 SD --- 30 SEC
Giant Green SeabusH----8XP --- 5 SD --- 4 MIN
Red Tube Sponge------12XP --- 8 SD --- 4 MIN
Orange Tube Sponge---25XP --- 10 SD --- 1 HR
Yellow Sponge Bed---------------25 SD --- 6 HR
Yellow Plateau PlaNT---60XP --- 30 SD --- 12 HR
Giant Brown GrasS-----10XP --- 10 SD --- 30 MIN
Blue Pipe Sponge------30XP --- 20 SD --- 30 MIN
Maroon Pipe SpongE---30XP --- 30 SD --- 2 HR
Yellow Small Grass-----90XP --- 50 SD --- 12 HR
Giant Green Grass----------------80 SD --- 8 HR
Orange Plateau PlaNT--15XP --- 10 SD --- 20 MIN
Orange Barrel Sponge------------250 SD --- 24 HR
Fan CoraL--------------1XP --- 2 AL --- 30 SEC
Fruit Loop CoraL--------2XP --- 3 AL --- 1 MIN
Violet Brain Coral-------8XP --- 5 AL --- 3 MIN
Sunset Cup------------ 4XP --- 5 AL --- 5 MIN
Blue MushrooM---------20XP --- 10 AL --- 1 HR
Brain Coral-------------70XP --- 45 AL --- 24 HR
Orange Pillar Coral------30XP --- 10 AL --- 30 MIN
Green MushrooM-------30XP --- 15 AL --- 5 HR
Carnation CoraL--------60XP --- 30 AL --- 12 HR
Pillar Coral-------------15XP --- 5 AL --- 30 MIN
Christmas Tree Coral---40XP --- 22 AL --- 6 HR
Green Bubble CoraL----45XP --- 25 AL --- 8 HR
Bamboo CoraL---------80XP --- 50 AL --- 24 HR
Silver Bubble Coral-----12XP --- 6 AL --- 15 MIN
Fire CoraL-------------20XP --- 5 AL --- 30 MIN
Cup CoraL-------------60XP --- 15 AL --- 6 HR
Finger Coral -----------25XP --- 12 AL --- 45 MIN
Cat's Paw CoraL------200XP ---180 AL --- 10 MIN
As we continue to work through the levels, I will try to come back and post more information. It is the slowest progression of a game I think I've ever seen.
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