Everything is closed…

[Vamphyri]

I’m a relatively new reef keeper (about 9 months into my first tank) and just recently I have the disaster that you see here. Please be kind as I only have forums like this to go to for advice.
This started about a month ago. I originally had 8 Cerith snails in this tank when I first started. That number ballooned to about 200. It was wild. It felt excessive, so I pulled about 100 out. This was my first mistake. Algae then got crazy out of hand, as you can see. I got some Astrea and Trochus snails to try and get it back under control. Some of it is hair like, and some is dusty along the rock and sand, and some come off in sheets if I scrape the glass.
Since this started, I’ve done 2-15 gallon water changes approximately a week apart. This is a 65 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump. I originally noticed that my salinity started creeping up, and that’s never happened, hence the first water change. Then the soft corals started closing, so I started blowing everything off with a turkey baster, followed by floss changes. When nothing got better, I tried a second, 15 gallon water change, and everything is the same.
So I bought a microscope trying to figure out what everything is, because I don’t want to just dose by guessing. I feel like I have a possible dino problem, filamentous algae, and maybe Cyanobacteria. I’m just comparing my images with what I can find online.
The corals started closing around the time of the introduction of the new snails. The water they came in was drained before adding them to the tank.
Other than trying manually clean it, I haven’t tried much for fear of making things worse.
This is a 65 gallon tank, with 20 gallon sump. Bubble Magus Elite Curve 5 skimmer, I’ve dropped a smaller bubbler in the refugium for some extra aeration, and added active carbon under the floss on the intake. I have two AI Prime 16’s for light, with white almost none existent because of the algae. I have found out just today that my RO/DI is putting out water with 7ppm TDS, so im wondering if this all happened due to the water changes. I don’t do them often, just ATO mostly. I have some crappy pics from the microscope if anyone thinks it’ll help.
Parameters:
Ph 8.4
Salinity 1.027
Calcium 514 ppm
Magnesium 1290 ppm
Phosphate .18 ppm
Ammonia .06 ppm
Nitrate 7.9 ppm
Nitrite 18 ppb
Alkalinity 8.8 dKH

 

[Tahoe61]

That's pretty frustrating. Is there enough flow in the display, with surface agitation?
How old is the tank?
Make sure the instrument you use for measuring SG is calibrated.
Is the water ever clear?

It will turn around. That's a great scape.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO 2 primes on a 65 gallon tank is insufficient, they are not very strong lights. I would want at least 200 watts of light on the tank, you have half of that. How deep is the tank? Your tank looks tall. Prime has 24” depth capacity so anything on the sanded might not get sufficient light.

The tank also needs a few more wave makers. Needs surface agitation as well, you can see the dust buildup in the picture , that buildup cuts the light penetration and also cuts gas exchange. Surface agitation helps oxygenate the water. More flow will help with the algae too.

Looking at the smaller details, the salinity is a bit high, phosphate is a bit high, ammonia and nitrite are confusing and likely error.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I agree that getting more flow in your tank would. be a good step; it looks like there is a lot of algae sitting in the sand.

How does your CUC look?

 

[Vamphyri]

That's pretty frustrating. Is there enough flow in the display, with surface agitation?
How old is the tank?
Make sure the instrument you use for measuring SG is calibrated.
Is the water ever clear?

It will turn around. That's a great scape.

Water is getting clear. I did a 20 gallon water change last night, and I bought “Pacific Ocean water” from petco. It’s already looking better.

 

[Vamphyri]

Water is getting clear. I did a 20 gallon water change last night, and I bought “Pacific Ocean water” from petco. It’s already looking better.

I started the tank last January. I have a wave maker in the top left, and one in the middle/bottom right. I feel like it’s enough, but I’m not 100% sure.

 

[Vamphyri]

IMO 2 primes on a 65 gallon tank is insufficient, they are not very strong lights. I would want at least 200 watts of light on the tank, you have half of that. How deep is the tank? Your tank looks tall. Prime has 24” depth capacity so anything on the sanded might not get sufficient light.

The tank also needs a few more wave makers. Needs surface agitation as well, you can see the dust buildup in the picture , that buildup cuts the light penetration and also cuts gas exchange. Surface agitation helps oxygenate the water. More flow will help with the algae too.

Looking at the smaller details, the salinity is a bit high, phosphate is a bit high, ammonia and nitrite are confusing and likely error.

I agree that getting more flow in your tank would. be a good step; it looks like there is a lot of algae sitting in the sand.

How does your CUC look?

I’ve lost a few Astrea snails as they have a hard time flipping themselves over.

 

[Piotrek]

Regarding water movement it's hard to tell based on pictures. If you could upload a video that would be great.

 

[Vamphyri]

IMO 2 primes on a 65 gallon tank is insufficient, they are not very strong lights. I would want at least 200 watts of light on the tank, you have half of that. How deep is the tank? Your tank looks tall. Prime has 24” depth capacity so anything on the sanded might not get sufficient light.

The tank also needs a few more wave makers. Needs surface agitation as well, you can see the dust buildup in the picture , that buildup cuts the light penetration and also cuts gas exchange. Surface agitation helps oxygenate the water. More flow will help with the algae too.

Looking at the smaller details, the salinity is a bit high, phosphate is a bit high, ammonia and nitrite are confusing and likely error.

The tank is 24” deep. I don’t have a PAR meter. The salinity being high is what kicked all of this off. I know some of my parameters aren’t in the best spots, but they’ve always been fairly consistent. I feel like it’s my RO system that causes the problem. My tap water is 53 TDS. I have a bottle g Rubbermaid trash can I use when I make water. I tested some “fresh” RO/DI that was a few days old and it was 60 TDS! No clue how or why. I ran my RO system for about 10 minutes and took a sample. It read 7 TDS. So I’m not really sure what’s going on with my system, but it’s not producing what is should. I did a 20 gallon water change last night, with store bought salt water. It already looks better.

 

[Piotrek]

I’ve lost a few Astrea snails as they have a hard time flipping themselves over.

If the snail has a hard time flipping over imho it's more of a sign then the cause. First of all, it shouldn't fall off to have to flip. Second, it should flip easily if it's healthy. Maybe you have cooper in your system for some reason.

 

[Piotrek]

The tank is 24” deep. I don’t have a PAR meter. The salinity being high is what kicked all of this off. I know some of my parameters aren’t in the best spots, but they’ve always been fairly consistent. I feel like it’s my RO system that causes the problem. My tap water is 53 TDS. I have a bottle g Rubbermaid trash can I use when I make water. I tested some “fresh” RO/DI that was a few days old and it was 60 TDS! No clue how or why. I ran my RO system for about 10 minutes and took a sample. It read 7 TDS. So I’m not really sure what’s going on with my system, but it’s not producing what is should. I did a 20 gallon water change last night, with store bought salt water. It already looks better.

I don't know if this is the cause of the issue, but if you want your RODI water to be 0 DTS, you need to add demineralizing resin after the osmosis membrane. If you don't, 7 is expected.