A sulfer smell

[nicks nano reef]

i have been reading artcles about dosing sugar to reef tanks and decided to give it a shot. i dosed on teaspoon to my 25 gallon nano then went to bed. when i woke up my tank water was all cloudy when it was clear the night before and is now giving off a sulfer like smell. any information or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Why did you dose sugar? Do you have nutrient 'concerns'? I'm well aware of the benefits of organic carbon dosing, but am curious as to why you personally chose that route.

The cloudiness and smell is a bacterial bloom. You put a certain strain of bacteria on steroids by affording them an enormous amount of food (organic carbon).

Definitely read everything you can find on carbon dosing before doing anything else, it can quickly destroy a system if not done correctly.

 

[Tahoe61]

Too much sugar, run some charcoal, if the tank gets cloudy start doing some water changes. The bacteria bloom will quickly take up the oxygen and then fish and inverts start to die.

 

[SantaMonica]

Sulphur sounds like hydrogen sulfide, but I have not heard of over-dosing carbon causing it.

 

[Tahoe61]

A dying bacterial bloom can smell like hydrogen sulfide, just like a rotting shrimp in a tank.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Also if your not running a Skimmer and you overdosed the tank, you definitely need to do a large water change to get that bacteria outta there. Teaspoon for a 25g tank is was to much.
I believe for a 25g tank, you should have dosed something like 1/32nd of a teaspoon to start with.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Also if your not running a Skimmer ...........

Actually until you brought this up Madness, I just assumed the OP had a skimmer. Here's the important part.....If you don't have a skimmer, you cannot dose any type of carbon. The skimmer is a critical part of carbon dosing....to remove (export) the excess bacteria that is mutliplying like crazy.

 

[beaslbob]

Yeppers sound like sulfur (probably hydrogen sulfide).

which is why I use macro algae to consume the ammonia/nitrates. no sulfur compounds possible and the algae recycles fish wastes into fish food and oxygen.


my .02

 

[reeffirstaid]

As was stated, you created a massive bacteria bloom. I am totally against the idea of putting anything, except reef specific additives (that you test for) into your tank. There are ways of controlling nutrients, that are safe and can be controlled. Dumping sugar or vodka into your aquarium isn't feasible, long term. As was also stated, the sulfur smell is bacteria breaking down nutrients and releasing hydrogen sulfide. Bacteria can consume oxygen, so powerful skimming is recommended it keep O2, alk, and ph levels up. BTW, I wouldn't do that again, if everything pulls through okay.