Smell from tank

[jpward1981]

Hey everyone, I'm running into an issue that I don't think i have run into before. I have a rimless 90p tank that I have recently setup. I did a dry start to get a good start of glosso started in a few spots. There is a combination of wood and rock. I used UNS aquasoil to fill in between the rocks to have a place for plants. I recently filled the tank about a month ago, and I have been doing every other day 50% water changes.

The issue that I am having, before I change water, there is a terrible smell that is coming from the tank. Bad enough for people that are in the other room can smell it when I open the door to the room. I thought originally it was where i was holding my fish until the tank settled. The parameters were stabilized enough to move my fish back over today. So, I was able to get that holding tank out of here and cleaned up. The smell still remains. I can't smell it myself, but my wife could pinpoint the smell to the aquarium, but I don't know what is going on to make this strong of a smell.

 

[BigWave]

Hmm a good running tank should have a natural spring / creek freshness to it. My cat only drinks out of my tank due to it being fresh and clean, unlike her tapwater bowl LOL. A few things.... Have you cleaned your filters and if so did you use old tank water and not chlorinated water? Smell is usually bacteria. IE - Something is causing them to die. It could also be hardscape such as rotting woods. People often use Grape vine which rots within weeks underwater. Cyano Bacteria has a very unique smell. Very earthy and pungent that makes your nose hairs pucker up. Its also very hazzardous to your health so wear gloves while handling it.

Edit: I suspect Cyano but no idea without more info.

 

[GreggZ]

Hmm a good running tank should have a natural spring / creek freshness to it.

Agreed. Tank should not have any odor.

Any chance of any dead critters in there??

 

[Art]

Can you describe the smell? If it smells like rotten eggs, that's hydrogen sulfide and is likely coming from the substrate.

 

[Dave]

Hmm a good running tank should have a natural spring / creek freshness to it. My cat only drinks out of my tank due to it being fresh and clean, unlike her tapwater bowl LOL. A few things.... Have you cleaned your filters and if so did you use old tank water and not chlorinated water? Smell is usually bacteria. IE - Something is causing them to die. It could also be hardscape such as rotting woods. People often use Grape vine which rots within weeks underwater. Cyano Bacteria has a very unique smell. Very earthy and pungent that makes your nose hairs pucker up. Its also very hazzardous to your health so wear gloves while handling it.

Edit: I suspect Cyano but no idea without more info.

Cyno does have a very unique odor. It can be detected immediately when disturbed.

 

[anewbie]

The two sources of smell I've seen is rotten egg smell from anaerobic behavior in deep substrate. This happens more often when you disturb the substrate exposing bacteria to oxygen (I think); but it does sometime happen spontaneously. Another is rotting food at the top of the tank on the rim (I guess with your aquarium being rimless this is less likely but if you feed flake it can still happen).