Smelly Aquarium Water

[omega59]

okay i will just let them sit in water then give them a good scrub down.
the lights are on about 8hrs a day and there is no direct sunlight hitting my tank, i have it in my basement room.

 

[Zeoth]

Yeah... I think you've got some ammonia in there. That ammonia...boy it reaks

 

[jasonskillz]

my tank is pretty clean, but it still smells a lil but you gotta get be right in front of the water to even smell it, and if you do, its tolerable. i say change more water! i do 50% and some say im crazy but nothing has happened to my fishes

 

[omega59]

i'm waiting for paypal to confirm my payment, i just purchased a water test kit, so soon i'll be able to see what is wrong with my water. btw if you guys know how to speed up this payment using paypal cus they seam to hold 7 days before the funds clear out, kind of annoying

thanks all.

 

[goosej13]

If you use soap on anything and any soap is left on them and it gets on your fish it will break down that slime that fish have on the outside of their bodies... which is a protective layer for their scales any they can get infections under there scales usually killing them unless treated right away... ALL IN ALL.... SOAP = BAD I forget what my professor said the scientific word was for the scale problem with soap but he just said with fish and soap is a bad thing... Just a lil FYI for everyone

 

[omega59]

okay so no soup hehe.

how do you guys clean out your filter sponge and carbon, i read to just rinse it with the existing water in the tank atleast every 6 months.. what do you think of this?

 

[goosej13]

haha... I use my shower head lol... its got a jet feature and i just blast it out

 

[dthoffsett]

okay so no soup hehe.

how do you guys clean out your filter sponge and carbon, i read to just rinse it with the existing water in the tank atleast every 6 months.. what do you think of this?

I don't use carbon, but I clean out the sponge in tank water (or clean dechlorinated water) whenever the water flow slows down. (Usually around 3-6 months).

 

[omega59]

thank you http dthoffset

 

[omega59]

well i think you were right, it was amonia.
i did a water change about $45% or so, took out all the fake plants,rocks etc and scrubed them down and then rinsed with really hot water. did a nice gravel cleanup. the smell is gone! the only thing now is the water has some tiny particles of cloudyness still, so i'm assuming there is still somthing in the water.. i'll post my test results as soon as i get the kit. many thanks to everyone

 

[poopsydrew]

haha... I use my shower head lol... its got a jet feature and i just blast it out

along with all your beneficial bacteria?

-Omega-just to clarify what dthoffsett said (whose advice has been excellent), make sure when you clean off the filter sponges you use DEchlorinated water. This is because chlorine is not only deadly to fish but also the nitrifying bacteria that colonize on your filter pad.

You'll have no problems in this hobby with the way you listen yo good advice

Best of luck,

Drew

 

[omega59]

poopsydrew
thank you, i will be cleaning the entire filter out (but not the carbon sack, this stays dirty from what i read it holds the necessary bacteria) with the tanks dirty water and give the spondge a good squeeze and rinse under hot water.

 

[madgap]

I don't know whether this is the correct way or not, but I give mine the once over about every ten weeks.
I take out about eight litres of aquarium water into a bucket. Then I sqeeze out the sponges in the water. I also take the powerhed to pieces, so I can clean out the impeller and so on.

As far as I'm aware, Goose's suggestion of blasting the sponges in the shower is a ridiculous practice. The reason being is that your aquarium filter sponges have bacteria living in there which actually helps to clear the water into a habitable enviroment for your fish.

 

[omega59]

ahh okay, so everything should be cleaned with dirty tank water haha gotchya thks.

 

[dthoffsett]

poopsydrew
thank you, i will be cleaning the entire filter out (but not the carbon sack, this stays dirty from what i read it holds the necessary bacteria) with the tanks dirty water and give the sponge a good squeeze and rinse under hot water.

Actually carbon isn't where the majority of your bacteria lives, carbon is used to removed toxins (or old medicine) from your water, and isn't really necessary, unless of course you need to remove old meds. The bacteria will live on your sponge, but it's also a good idea to add some bio-media such as bio-balls or ceramic media, you can put them in a filter bag, and put it in the place of your carbon. The nice thing is you never need to buy new bio-media unless it falls apart, just occasionally swish it through some old tank water and it's ready to go.