Water green, tank smells like a swamp!

[sharpshooter73]

Glad to hear you rehomed them; most turtles need at least 50-75 gallons to live thier full lifespan, which can be over 40 years (my grandmother's lived to be 56).

Good luck sorting out your tank issues!

Thanks... I really hated to see him go, but it's for the better.

As of the 3rd 20% water change this morning, the smell isn't as bad as before. You don't smell it as strongly in the whole room, only when you get closer to the tank. Hopefully I am on my way to clearing up that crap. It was really rank!!

 

[Chuck & Veronica]

As of the 3rd 20% water change this morning, the smell isn't as bad as before. You don't smell it as strongly in the whole room, only when you get closer to the tank. Hopefully I am on my way to clearing up that crap. It was really rank!!

Yeah, Hydrogen sulfide fumes are really noxious (literally and figuratively). I was once running a 10-gallon tank in my office as a swamp habitat tank for a swamp darter and some other native species indigenous to swamp habitats. It didn't smell until I got the bright idea to put in an air bubbler. I don't know what I was thinking. Practically had to shut down a whole suite of offices until the ventilation system in the building pumped out the gas.

Chuck

 

[sharpshooter73]

You dont think that by some weird coincedence, I got the algae growing because of the ALGAE WAFFERS that I started feeding to the corys? I had been using shrimp pellets before, and just bought a bag of the waffers.

Just wondering if they would have caused anything?

 

[Synirr]

The smell algae gives off could never be bad enough to cause the guy to keep the door closed to the room where the tank is located, nor could it ever be described as "swamp" smell. What he described was obviously hydrogen sulfide gas. If you've ever smelled hydrogen sulfide gas, you would never mistake it for the smell of algae.

Chuck

Most people have never smelled a real swamp. Algae smells "swampy" because swamps have algae as well. Like I said, swamps smell the way they do for more reasons than just swamp gas. I honestly don't think it's even possible for an aquarium to accumulate so much hydrogen sulfide gas that it has a persistent odor. Maybe I'm wrong, it just doesn't seem likely. I don't stir my sand very often (every 3-4 months, usually) and sometimes there is gas release when I do, but never enough for me to smell it for more than a second, and even then it's very faint... note that the rooms my aquariums are in are practically dungeons, so it's not like the scent is being whisked out the window or anything. Algae, on the other hand, does have a persistent odor which can be rather funky when you get near the tank.

 

[Chuck & Veronica]

Algae, on the other hand, does have a persistent odor which can be rather funky when you get near the tank.

Synirr, "funky" and "rank" are two distinct things that could not be confused. Like "day" and "night."

Chuck

 

[sharpshooter73]

So back to my other question... could the algae waffers have anything to do with the algae growing?

 

[Chuck & Veronica]

So back to my other question... could the algae waffers have anything to do with the algae growing?

I have never had an algae problem related to feeding the algae wafers for pleco's and other bottom feeders. By the time the algae in the wafers has been dried and processed, it's most likely dead. If it's not a living form of algae, then it cannot reproduce.

Overfeeding (were the algae wafers completely devoured?), or too much light are the most common causes of algae.

Chuck

 

[sharpshooter73]

So back to my other question... could the algae waffers have anything to do with the algae growing?

I have never had an algae problem related to feeding the algae wafers for pleco's and other bottom feeders. By the time the algae in the wafers has been dried and processed, it's most likely dead. If it's not a living form of algae, then it cannot reproduce.

Overfeeding (were the algae wafers completely devoured?), or too much light are the most common causes of algae.

Chuck

Thanks, Chuck!

 

[Chuck & Veronica]

Thanks, Chuck!

You're welcome! Glad to help out. Good luck with your tank. Small tanks are less stable than bigger ones (I have a 10g myself that is giving me fits right now), and occasional problems are not unexpected.

Chuck

 

[sharpshooter73]

It'll be nice when I can get my 65gal purchased and set up. That'll be a few months from now.

 

[littleimp]

What chuck is saying is absolutely spot on.

In fact marine aqaurists build up platforms using egg crate (plastic grid) to support the rocks that go into the aquarium so they do not sit on top of the sand!!

Any area in an aquarium that does not have suffiecient water movement around it is prone to this. The gas produced hydrogenIS hydrogen sulphide & when disturbed it can stink the house out!!! Surprised the fish haven't died yet & that the smell hasn't gone away yet though?

 

[sharpshooter73]

What chuck is saying is absolutely spot on.

In fact marine aqaurists build up platforms using egg crate (plastic grid) to support the rocks that go into the aquarium so they do not sit on top of the sand!!

Any area in an aquarium that does not have suffiecient water movement around it is prone to this. The gas produced hydrogenIS hydrogen sulphide & when disturbed it can stink the house out!!! Surprised the fish haven't died yet & that the smell hasn't gone away yet though?

After a combination of fixes:

(Doing partial water changes daily, cut back on feeding, getting rid of turtle, leaving lights off), the tank is almost free of all smell. You can barely notice it when you are right at it. The water is not so green anymore. It should be cleared in another week, methinks.