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I started my Biocube in August 2018. I started on the hobby once before (in 2014), and my entire tank crashed when I went on a one week vacation which was heart wrenching. In my last tank, I had a green BTA, two Clownfish, Golden Head sleeper goby, and a hefty cleanup crew. I thought I had a hang on things, but it went south very quickly in that one week. The tank was 15g. Lessons learned: get everyone in the household involved; have as many things automated as you can; test, test, and test again.... and then keep testing. This Biocube, like I said, I began again in August of 2018, and I had a beautiful thing going until I took a two week vacation in July 2019. When I got back, my tank exploded with all of this green hair algae. My 3 BTA’s (2 split from the original) and my clown fish, were all at the top of the tank gasping for air - it looked like a jungle. I tried my best to remove all of the algae, but I just could not do it quick enough. By the time I cleaned the tank, put fresh SW in (50% water change), I had to move the team out into a quarantine tank while I did all this - the tank got so stressed, I lost my three beautiful BTA’s. (I still have my 2 clown’s which I am so thankful for) Currently I am dealing with mini cycles on and off - ammonia keeps spiking; last week, my ammonia went down, nitrates went up, then went to 0 - and my nitrates spiked. Thought things were good to go, and then this week my clowns started acting funny, swimming erratically and such - I tested the water, and ammonia went to .50 ppm again with nitrites and nitrates at 0. SMH So basically, I’m starting all over again. There’s nothing there... as of right now. I was always an anemone person, but I am going to be trying my hand at corals now. I am keeping this journal as a way to track progress, and in hopes that I can also give some nuggets of info that someone else can utilize on their journey. When will this end! Should I give up - I just love having a little piece of the ocean in my home. I just feel like every time I have things going well, it goes down hill in a big way. Thanks for reading!

So I have been running this tank for around 2 weeks now (with fish) four weeks without. 2 weeks after I added the fish I noticed this lighter purple algae (I think it's cyano). It would be great to have an ID on this algae/bacteria (aswell as a few other potential pests). I found it odd as this is a brand new tank though and I am aware of the diatoms on the rock. BTW this is my first fish tank. The tank is a 10 gallon IM Nano. I run my light 8 hours a day though I have reduced it one hour due to the algae. My salinity is 1.25, 0.25 ppm ammonia, no Nitrites, little to no Nitrates and 7.8 ph. I cycled the tank using live rock for two weeks with no water changes (I know that's not long enough) though I was instructed to do so by my local fish store. I am also using de-chlorinated tap water and I know I should be using RODI water. I have also done a 20% water change each week. I have stocked the tank with a ocelaris clownfish aswell as a bi-color dottyback and when I stoked the tank I used Seachem new tank stabilization system. I change the filter every week and use Chemipure blue in the filter sock. Also on that note I was wondering how often to replace the Chemipure blue nano packets. No clean up crew yet but it's in the plans. I just forgot to add that I feed the tank once a day a little bit of misis shrimp i think is what it's called. I have a power head in the tank as well lots of flow. I have also have attached a few other species that I have found in the tank I thought one of them was Aptasia but i am unsure. It would be great If I could have an ID on these species. Thanks! I'm trying my best and would appreciate some help with my new tank! and I am new to Nano Reef so I may have set this up incorrectly. Bryce Image 1. Aptasia maybe? Image 2. Red hair like algae? Image 3. flower like thing coming out of a tube Image 4. Lighter purple algae Image 5. Again lighter purple algae