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What does your water change SMELL like


Guest Kimo

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Guest Kimo

I changed my water today, about 30 gallons. It smelled like CRAP. It was an acrid, fishy, decaying algae smell. It pervaded two levels of my house.

 

My wife said "We can't have the house smelling like dead fish." I don't blame her, and she's really cool, always putting up with my crazy hobby ;)

 

I'm just curious what your tanks smell like when you change the water. I have a 180, which might be a bit bigger (or smaller!) than some of your tanks. I am also concerned that the smell may be indicitive of a larger problem.

 

Jamie

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Are you sure it was the bucket of old water you were smelling? When I'm doing a water change and my water level drops in the display tank, sometimes corals and rocks get partially uncovered. Combine uncovered corals and rock with the cooling fans in my hood blowing air over them, and it can stink.

 

I've never noticed a bad smell to the water itself though.

 

If it was the siphoned-off water that smelled bad, was it particularly dirty? Were you overdue for a water change, been feeding a lot, etc?

 

Jon

 

 

I changed my water today, about 30 gallons. It smelled like CRAP. It was an acrid, fishy, decaying algae smell. It pervaded two levels of my house.

 

My wife said "We can't have the house smelling like dead fish." I don't blame her, and she's really cool, always putting up with my crazy hobby ;)

 

I'm just curious what your tanks smell like when you change the water. I have a 180, which might be a bit bigger (or smaller!) than some of your tanks. I am also concerned that the smell may be indicitive of a larger problem.

 

Jamie

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Guest Kimo

I changed my water today, about 30 gallons. It smelled like CRAP. It was an acrid, fishy, decaying algae smell. It pervaded two levels of my house.

 

My wife said "We can't have the house smelling like dead fish." I don't blame her, and she's really cool, always putting up with my crazy hobby ;)

 

I'm just curious what your tanks smell like when you change the water. I have a 180, which might be a bit bigger (or smaller!) than some of your tanks. I am also concerned that the smell may be indicitive of a larger problem.

 

Jamie

 

Oh no, it was the algae on the returns - And I was overdue for a WC, very overdue.

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Guest seantadez

i never smell something bad... sometimes when i take off the skimmer but no to bad

 

 

 

 

Oh no, it was the algae on the returns - And I was overdue for a WC, very overdue.

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A little Kalk in the skimmer collection bucket (or cup) will kill the bacteria that causes that smell... litterally pickeling the skimmate. I empty my bucket every 2 or 3 weeks, and dont need to clean it at all... cant smell a thing.

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Oh no, it was the algae on the returns - And I was overdue for a WC, very overdue.

Overdue? Perhaps that has something to do with your water quality problems you posted in a different forum and corals dying ?

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Also, if you have recently done some rockscaping you can have die-off from sections of the rock that were previously uncovered but now are buried in the sand. This can cause a very nasty smell.

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Guest Kimo

Overdue? Perhaps that has something to do with your water quality problems you posted in a different forum and corals dying ?

 

Yeah, that's one of the numerous issues. It's been tough to do maintenance with the little one around, I'm sure you can relate. We're starting to adjust though.

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I notice on my 2 tanks, 99% of the nasty smell comes from the collection cup of my protein skimmers. If you empty them every 2 or 3 days, it's not too terrible. I let one gor for 10 days and that was a big mistake. God that was an aweful smell!

:rolleyes:

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