Cycling 55-gallon; Pond Odor A Good Or Bad Sign?

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zaitchev

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I started cycling last Thursday. I did lots of things, including plopping in an extra filter from another cycled tank, filling it with about ten pounds of gravel from a cycled tank, and adding enough live bacteria for 15 gallon aquarium. There's quite a bit of decaying food in there--I was going for an ammonia spike and wasn't getting it with a pinch here and a pinch there.

Today, three days after adding the big lump of food, there's an odor. Reminds me of the marshy pond odor. It's rough.

Is this a good or bad sign? Specifically, how far along on the cycle is this? I'm guessing that the odor has to do with an ammonia spike? In which case, in a few days-a week the established bacteria colony should multiply and take care of the problem?

My testing supplies aren't the best (not reliable and not reading correctly) and it will be a good week before I can get a good test kit.
 
I started cycling last Thursday. I did lots of things, including plopping in an extra filter from another cycled tank, filling it with about ten pounds of gravel from a cycled tank, and adding enough live bacteria for 15 gallon aquarium. There's quite a bit of decaying food in there--I was going for an ammonia spike and wasn't getting it with a pinch here and a pinch there.

Today, three days after adding the big lump of food, there's an odor. Reminds me of the marshy pond odor. It's rough.

Is this a good or bad sign? Specifically, how far along on the cycle is this? I'm guessing that the odor has to do with an ammonia spike? In which case, in a few days-a week the established bacteria colony should multiply and take care of the problem?

My testing supplies aren't the best (not reliable and not reading correctly) and it will be a good week before I can get a good test kit.
hard one this.

a well kept tank tends to have the odour of freshly rained on grass or garden.
is it anything like that?
 
Once you get your good test kits you'll be able to follow the progress of your fishless cycle (sounds like that's what it is) much more closely. There are countless old threads in this new freshwater tank section that document the ups and downs of fishless cycling processes. I and many other members have guided dozens if not hundreds of these and the threads are still there to be read, including the bits of variation that enhance our basic beginners resource center articles.

One of the advantages of simple household ammonia methods is less odor, but the messier fishless cycles where extra organic is thrown in are not necessarily worse. Both often take a similar amount of time. In my opinion the simple household ammonia fishless cycles are easier to interpret, using the typical test results but in the end it often all comes out the same.

It is quite interesting that soil and tank water often share a fresh garden smell once things are running well. Many of the bacteria are quite similar.

WD
 

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