Smelly Water

[Aqua Tom]

So a gravel vac and water change shoyld sort it out?

You should'nt really disturb the gravel, let alone turn it over as that is where a good majority of good and bad bacteria live.


I'd have to disagree on this compared with the filter very little bacteria are found in the substrate and vaccing out any waste is far preferable over not disurbing the gravel.

+1, the filter is where its at, the only time that gravel will have benificial bacteria in it is if you have an undergravel filter

 

[Skins]

So a gravel vac and water change shoyld sort it out?

+1

 

[JasonandJill]

I always push the syphon to the bottom of the substrate and leave it there until the water runs clear. I thought I was doing a good job until I removed the gravel so I could change to sand. The amount of debris left on the bottom of the tank amazed me. I wouldn't describe it as benefiial bacteria that's for sure!!!

 

[Skins]

I always push the syphon to the bottom of the substrate and leave it there until the water runs clear.

This is the same method i use.

Keith.

 

[woody88]

Just read all the posts after mine. I do agree, if your not using UGF. Then you need to remove the bacteria under the substrate, otherwise it will just sit there, possibly raising nitrate levels, but its not a good idea when UGF are used imo. When I do vac the gravel I also syphon crap from just below the surface but never the bottom.
The last time I did that my tank was a mess for a week and it actually caused a mini cycle [ammonia,nitrite spike]
which resulted in sick fish.

Sorry for those of you who think im incorrect but this is way I been shown by a number of 'old skool' fish keepers or 'grandads' as we like to call them [Back in the days when UGF was the only source of filtration] And it seemed to work well for them......and me!

First things first..............stats please!.................debate after!

 

[michaelh]

Ill try for a test kit in the morning. Thinking that the plant should go now

 

[michaelh]

.

 

[michaelh]

Ok. Done a yest just now. Not to good.
No3-50 no2-5 gh-16 kh-15 ph-8 cl2-0.5
I did water change after this and treated water for clorine ect
any ideas about smell? Thanks

 

[michaelh]

100% water change and gravel rinse new results are
cl2-0.5
Ph-7.6
Kh-18
gh-15
No2-0
No3-25

base of my dying plant smelt dusty like the water.
I think that was the sorce maybe?

Clorine and nitrAte seem high still. Advise?

 

[waterdrop]

It seems like the rotting tuber of the plant may have been a significant part of the smell change you detected and may also be contributing to your water problems. Paper strip tests cannot be trusted but the fact that you had a nitrite(NO2) reading showing 5ppm the first time indicates that it is urgent that you obtain a good liquid-reagent based test kit (most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit) and post up it's results for the members. The fish load may also be contributing.

I would like to defend woody88. It is entirely correct that a correctly running freshwater tank should smell faintly like fresh garden soil. This is because the exact same Nitrogen Cycle is being carried out in the soil as in a well-run tank. So I believe woody88 was making a well-intentioned and accurate statement. I suspect michaelh was detecting a bit stronger smell probably mostly from the plant breaking down.

woody88 was also quite correct about bacteria location and UGF filters, which has already been pointed out. Most of the maintenance we discuss in this subforum pertains to internal, HOB and EC filters, not UGF or RUGF filters.

Proper water testing and greatly enhanced gravel-clean-water-changing with a gravel-cleaning siphon will probably be the key action that needs to happen in this thread, in addtion to the eventual re-homing of the fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[scampi]

I push my gravel vac down into the substrate - wait til all the muck goes up the tube then move to another area. Its so satisfying lol. I only do this once a fortnight tho, rest of the time just a surface vac.

 

[woody88]

It seems like the rotting tuber of the plant may have been a significant part of the smell change you detected and may also be contributing to your water problems. Paper strip tests cannot be trusted but the fact that you had a nitrite(NO2) reading showing 5ppm the first time indicates that it is urgent that you obtain a good liquid-reagent based test kit (most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit) and post up it's results for the members. The fish load may also be contributing.

I would like to defend woody88. It is entirely correct that a correctly running freshwater tank should smell faintly like fresh garden soil. This is because the exact same Nitrogen Cycle is being carried out in the soil as in a well-run tank. So I believe woody88 was making a well-intentioned and accurate statement. I suspect michaelh was detecting a bit stronger smell probably mostly from the plant breaking down.

woody88 was also quite correct about bacteria location and UGF filters, which has already been pointed out. Most of the maintenance we discuss in this subforum pertains to internal, HOB and EC filters, not UGF or RUGF filters.

Thanks Waterdrop......For a moment there I was starting to question myself!......but only a very brief moment!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[waterdrop]

I push my gravel vac down into the substrate - wait til all the muck goes up the tube then move to another area. Its so satisfying lol. I only do this once a fortnight tho, rest of the time just a surface vac.

Yeah, I agree, so satisfying isn't it? I've found though that it can change over time, that is, what you are capable of doing. When I first started out with my son's fairly standard gravel based community tank I had few plants and was able to thoroughly gravel-vac almost the entire tank. Over time the plants have become more and more varied and dense and so I do less and less deep gravel cleaning and more "wand waving" ( ) where I sort of gently lower the cylinder into the midst of dense leaves and sort of vibrate or shake it, stirring up debris that get's sucked up. It's somewhat less satisfying on the psychological level but the plants are getting better at using up some of the debris contents now I hope. WD

 

[OldMan47]

A well maintained tank simply does not smell bad. WD and others have qualified this statement, but it is a simple statement of truth. If you have a tank that is mildly reminiscent of fresh garden soil, it is doing fine. If you have objectionable odors in your tank, it is not doing well yet. If you are in the middle of a fishless cycle, things may just not have reached the completed stage yet and odors may well reflect that. If you have a stocked tank that smells bad, something is wrong. Do not ignore it. Among the more experienced of us, a bad smelling tank means it is time to do a serious investigation of our tank's chemistry. We cannot accept any bad smelling tank as being acceptable for water quality.
It is possible to have foul odors when any number of things are wrong with your chemistry. I am no expert on odors so I always end up doing a full test of my water when something simply does not smell right.