I think we all need gross crud just so we can tell others that we have been through it. My latest took almost a year to go away. I'm glad to hear you got it under control.I'm a biological scientist and I may have taken a too clinical approach to my cycle- I ended up with a chrysophytes algae problem that's took months to eradicate, probably due to it being too sterile and having free niches for colonization. I didn't have have the usual cycling uglies- was pristine white rocks for months then BAM- gross brown crud everywhere.
Just don't quit reefing. I had a baby in the middle of grad school. I dropped out of the hobby for awhile because I couldn't do everything. I'm glad to be back, but there's part of me that wishes I never stopped. Although it would have been a neglected, nasty-looking tank, with filled with many dead and dying things.Coupled with getting pretty sick for a couple months, and having a baby, it's a bit behind where I hoped it would be at this point.
Wonderful! My boys (and their friends) like mine too.But I'm loving it and it's turning into a real centerpiece in the home for the children. I just have like 12 projects I need to nail before I considers it at a point where I can sit back and watch it grow