...where you agonize over why your tank started crashing with algae explosions and sick fish after a pretty long run of a stable tank and then you find out it's something stupid?

The last two weeks or so this has happened to my tank (RIP melvin rose the gourami and cory kitty x1 T_T) and I found out my cat had gone under the table and stepped on my timer and it's been getting 3 extra hours of light for who knows how long.

I thought someone here would understand my feelings of

I have had that happen, just not with my tank, my sister yanked the power cord for the PC, so when I bumped the power strip under the table, the computer would just shut off, it did that for almost a week before i thought to check if the cable wasnt plugged in properly.

The extra light would grow algae, but it wouldn't kill or sicken your fish, no matter how much algae had grown (it's actually healthier for your fish as they use up the toxins and give off o2, there are extreme exceptions though where so much algae would slow filter flow or so much algae used up the o2 at night on large bioload tanks, practically impractical though).

We had a cat for a little bit here, I'll suggest to you what I did knowing that cats being the creatures they are, get into stuff. I took a large cardboard box and broke it down into its' large panels, I took 2 panels and staple gunned them across the back of my stand on the inside running the power cords through a slit I left at the top big enough for the cord and filter lines, but to small for a kitten to squeeze through, effectively "cat proofing" the inside of my tank stand against a mischievous cat

I think it was a combination of things. I was working 2 weeks in row so I hadn't been watching the tank closely or change water more frequently than once a week. It's been super hot in southern ca and we dont have ac. The light prob stressed them out as well as grow algae and heat the water. Honestly i think there was a concurrent bacterial over growth :/

Yeah- just last week I saw a plant sticking to part of my intake tube in a funny way and saw there was a big crack in it. I remember now hearing a small snap when I adjusted something a while ago, but don't know how long it was like that. I sealed the crack and when I put that piece back on, suddenly my filter flow is way stronger, the fish are playing and spawning all over the place, the plants are even growing better. I wonder now how many of my issues were from low filtration and not all the other things I fiddled with lately (photoperiod, fert dose, etc). Gah.