Not sure if this hobby is for me.

[Big_Mclargehuge]

Recommended biocube skimmer:

Icecap K-1 or K2-50. Looks and works like a full sized skimmer but miniature. I own K2-50

I'll look at one of those!

 

[SakuraSky]

Seriously don't give up. Try a different approach. You can have a beautiful tank.
Live rock definitely helps. I've never done a tank with completely dead rock but live is the way to go. Personally my approach (and I agree that everyone is going to have it different!) But I used live sand, live rock, let a frozen silverside rot in the tank. As soon as i started getting diatoms, CUC. Once that settled down, first fish. Maybe some macro algae. This tank pictured was my 29 biocube. It wasn't that old and I was poor and didn't have a lot of money to spend on stuff. After a while it was like looking into the ocean, just wild and cool. I had Coralie algae and Caulerpa up the wazoo and I did a lot of things that would be a big nono but my tank was doing great! I hardly ever tested my water, I used well water that was not tested (but I'm sure it wasn't that bad, private drilled well) I hardly did water changes. I certainly did NOT do weekly or bi weekly changes lol. Just top offs. I had a few corals, some were doing okay. I did manage to frag a few star polyps. I had the worst circulation/dead spot in the way back lol
This is a picture of it a few months in.
Nothing wrong with starting over either.

 

[SakuraSky]

Seriously don't give up. Try a different approach. You can have a beautiful tank.
Live rock definitely helps. I've never done a tank with completely dead rock but live is the way to go. Personally my approach (and I agree that everyone is going to have it different!) But I used live sand, live rock, let a frozen silverside rot in the tank. As soon as i started getting diatoms, CUC. Once that settled down, first fish. Maybe some macro algae. This tank pictured was my 29 biocube. It wasn't that old and I was poor and didn't have a lot of money to spend on stuff. After a while it was like looking into the ocean, just wild and cool. I had Coralie algae and Caulerpa up the wazoo and I did a lot of things that would be a big nono but my tank was doing great! I hardly ever tested my water, I used well water that was not tested (but I'm sure it wasn't that bad, private drilled well) I hardly did water changes. I certainly did NOT do weekly or bi weekly changes lol. Just top offs. I had a few corals, some were doing okay. I did manage to frag a few star polyps. I had the worst circulation/dead spot in the way back lol
This is a picture of it a few months in.
Nothing wrong with starting over either.

I will also mention I had a skimmer meant for the biocube in the back! I believe they still sell them?

 

[Reefahholic]

We’ve all been there man. Trust me...I’ve flooded the house. Broke a 180/G trying to move it. Broke a skimmer cup. I’ve had every bloom in the book and just about every algae. That’s what puts hair on your chest. Don’t give up! Good luck!

 

[brandon429]

Ladytang

the linked thread has all the info, each question is covered there with pics along the way-outcomes and time frames and Daniel is about to update again

the descriptions of how we made that tank run are only helpful in the context of the pics after each step. when you see how the tank wound up running after we went hands on vs hands off during the challenge phase it will be clear

 

[revenant]

dude... I have asked myself this many times... it's a labor of love.... hang in there

 

[runcis]

All I will say is hang in there. I have felt the same way many times and I am going through one of those annoying times now. Only thing is now I have been through it enough to know it will come around. In your position you don't really know that yet because you haven't seen it with your own eyes

Go to basics. Feed the tank a decent amount, do your water changes. Stop running GFO, carbon dosing, aminos etc if you are doing anything like that. Things may get worse before they get better but eventually things will balance out.

+1
that's the exact way how I survived my aquarium crisis

 

[Big_Mclargehuge]

Thanks everyone for the replies and words of encouragement. Here is a video of either cyano or dinos. I'm getting a microscope but here it is anyway.

 

[artieg1]

Hang in there! It gets better. Honestly, it's not just that a tank stabilizes over time, but you, the reefer, get better over time. Smarter. Better informed. I mean seriously, we're taking creatures thousands of miles from their marine home and keeping them in salt mix in suburbs inland. It's hard.

 

[Potatohead]

Looks like dinos to me, is it dusty if you blow the rocks with a turkey baster?

Phosphate up, UV on, silica dosing helps a lot too.

 

[Heart of Dixie]

Would one of those kids microscopes work? I'm finding a ton for sale on marketplace.

I have heard that just about any microscope with 3 focal lengths will work. There is a great thread on R2R discussing identifying Dino’s with some great pictures and how to remove based on the specific type.From what I have seen here is most appear oval or roundish thru a scope whereas diatoms are long & thin, almost needle like looking thru my scope’s second power and shaped more like grains of rice on the third. There will always be issues to deal with running a reef tank, some major, some minor. One of the parts I enjoy the most about the hobby is researching and experimenting trying to correct problems without dumping a bottle of quick fix it in. All problems stem from the simple fact of having too much or too little of something or a combination of both.