smelly water?

[Kyliegirl]

I had an issue where i added live rock to my tank and it caused the water to smell of rot, so i removed all the water/sand rock , put the rock in a tub, cleaned the tank added fresh salt water and sand, scrubbed the rock.

now a few hrs later the water is starting to smell again, even though i scrubbed the rock and rinsed it in clean salt water before putting it back in. is it normal for the water to start smelling during the cycling process?

it doesnt smell very pleasent..

 

[Anonymous]

Yes it's normal to smell if it's uncured rock. You shouldn't have scrubbed the rock, while you're removing dying critters you're also as removing hitchhiking critters that may be useful to your tank such as sponges, worms, etc. Simply use a skimmer or filter, have good circulation and do frequent water changes. The smell should go away in a couple of weeks.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Kyliegirl]

they all died when the ammonia went up, beleive me, nothing survived..

ammonia is at 2.o, before the tank remake, it was at 1.0 and rising due to everything dying.

i only brushed off the dead things on the rock, leaving the algae on the rock.

ph is at 8.8 too.. now, before i had a problem of it sitting at 8.0. but now its shot up.. why is that?

 

[fyrefysh]

Kyliegirl, what type of water are you using? (RO, tap, well, etc.) Your Ph seems much too high, 8.0 was better than 8.8. You may want to use a Ph buffer and see if it helps. Uncured live rock always stinks horribly for a few weeks. Just be sure to crank up your skimmer. You could even use some activated carbon and a hang-on filter to calm down the smell.

 

[Kyliegirl]

at first i was using ro water with marine salt, then i decided i would change the salt to reef salt as I will be owning a few corals along with fish.

possibly different salts make a difference?

i was using this one- http://www.seachem.com/products/product ... eSalt.html

changed to this-

http://www.seachem.com/products/product ... alt05.html


should i have stayed using the other one?

 

[fyrefysh]

I really like IO, but, most of these salts are just fine for any marine aquarium. BTW, how's your ph?

 

[Kyliegirl]

i changed the salt while the tank was cycling to a cheaper one which dropped the ph to 7.8-8.0, I am going to change the water today with the reef salt again tonight, see how it goes.


the smell is gone and the tanks in the cycling process, I am adding a little more rock today

 

[Meloco14]

I would pick one salt and stick to it. Either of those salts should be fine, they are from a reputable manufacturer. Normally the only difference between a "marine" salt and a "reef" salt is the reef salt has more calcium and trace elements that are used by corals. This is not a big difference, and many people keep successful reefs without using "reef" salt. Since you are still in the curing stage, I wouldnt worry about your water. It is going to be unstable until the cycle ends. If you are adding more rock you are just going to start another mini cycle, so unstable water parameters will result. Don't worry about it. All you need to monitor is ammonia. When it gets to 0 then test nitrite. If it is at 0 test nitrate. When that is at 0 leave it for a week and test again. If all 3 are still 0 then your cycle is over and you can add a cleaning crew. Until that time you dont need to test calcium, pH, or alkalinity. They are going to be screwy to don't trouble yourself over it. BTW, I have set up tanks with scrubbing the rock and without scrubbing the rock. IME the scrubbed rock cycled a little faster. However, the unscrubbed rock had noticably more hitchhikers. 2 years later I am still getting new things popping up. I know your ammonia went sky high, but this happens in every cycle. You will be amazed at what will survive. So it's your choice, but next time you set up a tank you might want to try not scrubbing and see what kind of results you get. HTH

 

[fyrefysh]

I would pick one salt and stick to it. Either of those salts should be fine, they are from a reputable manufacturer. Normally the only difference between a "marine" salt and a "reef" salt is the reef salt has more calcium and trace elements that are used by corals. This is not a big difference, and many people keep successful reefs without using "reef" salt. Since you are still in the curing stage, I wouldnt worry about your water. It is going to be unstable until the cycle ends. If you are adding more rock you are just going to start another mini cycle, so unstable water parameters will result. Don't worry about it. All you need to monitor is ammonia. When it gets to 0 then test nitrite. If it is at 0 test nitrate. When that is at 0 leave it for a week and test again. If all 3 are still 0 then your cycle is over and you can add a cleaning crew. Until that time you dont need to test calcium, pH, or alkalinity. They are going to be screwy to don't trouble yourself over it. BTW, I have set up tanks with scrubbing the rock and without scrubbing the rock. IME the scrubbed rock cycled a little faster. However, the unscrubbed rock had noticably more hitchhikers. 2 years later I am still getting new things popping up. I know your ammonia went sky high, but this happens in every cycle. You will be amazed at what will survive. So it's your choice, but next time you set up a tank you might want to try not scrubbing and see what kind of results you get. HTH

Amen, that about covers it.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, stick with one salt if possible.. - I know a few people who had major issues (in very well established tanks) who lost large colonies that they had been fragging out regularly just from changing salts. (On the recommendations of a chemist no less..) - Not that you should worry any on that right now though, its just something to keep in mind for the future when its established and running.

Really about all you need to watch while cycling is temp, salinity, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Like meloco said, when ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all are at 0 for a week, start adding stuff. Slowly, each new thing you add has the possibility of starting another "mini-cycle".. (But shouldn't give you the nasty sulphur/rotten egg water smell, thats just for uncured rock..)

 

[Meloco14]

Oh yeah, I forgot temp and salinity .

 

[Anonymous]

:wink: