Cloudy water and a nasty smell?

[direfishking27]

Hi I recently put in live rock in the my aquarium to start the cycling process. I noticed the water now has a cloudy and a very nasty smell to it I was wondering what is wrong and how to fix it.

 

[gemini9]

Did you put a shrimp in to start your cycle?

 

[direfishking27]

No but there were starfish in the rock

 

[gemini9]

If there was allot of die off from the rock before you put it in the tank it might smell. Anything rotten will smell. Have you checked your parameters? Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, phosphate, etc? I'm not sure why it smells or the water is cloudy. If you just put sand in your tank, that will cloud your water for awhile.

 

[direfishking27]

It may be the die off and yes all is normal and no I've had sand in the tank for about 3 months now

 

[gemini9]

I'm not sure. Smelly cloudy water isn't my specialty. Hopefully somebody else can pitch in. I'm still new to the hobby with a 6 month old aquarium. My only guess would be the die off but can't understand the cloudy water... unless your tank is in the beginning stages of a major algae breakout. Do you have pics?

 

[Reefkeepr1986]

The smell is Die off from whatever lived in the rocks and the cloudy water will go away after the cycle is over about two to three weeks just make sure temp is at 76, water perameters test, and flow is happening in the tank, for now the cloudiness is caused by the system cycling. Due to the major die off happening in your system the Nitrifying bacteria is multiplying by feeding on the ammonia from the die off! Once the cycle is done all the ammonia and nitrite should read zero and nitrates will be alittle high causing Brown Diatoms thus the cycle of a soon to become ecosystem!! Hope I explained that correctly? LoL and hope that helps??

 

[direfishking27]

Thank you so much I was very worried this is my first saltwater tank so I was worried I just spent a lot of money for something that didn't work

 

[fishroomlady]

My guess is that you got uncured rock? As others have said, uncured live rock will have a lot of die off and it will smell it does provide for a lot of bio diversity and many critters so that's the upside once the die off finishes and your water should clear.

 

[gemini9]

So I guess it really is the die off then. I wasn't sure about the cloudiness tho. Don't worry, it will only get more expensive from here lol. When your cycle is finished, like already said, your nitrates will be pretty high (mine were over 160ppm for the loooongest time) but don't panic. Just remember, you are in a hobby that really requires allot of patience and understanding. Sometimes you just need to sit back, take a breather and let nature run it's course. The only good way to get the nitrates down, is to do some water changes, but there's no need to really worry too much about that for a few weeks yet.

What equipment do you have so far? What size tank?

 

[direfishking27]

So I have a 25 gallon tank with a canister filter live sand about 15 pounds of live rock I've now used two bags of salt and a power head

 

[Reefkeepr1986]

Direfishking two bags of salt?? Did you get your salinity to 1.024-1.026 you will need a refractometer to measure the salinity and or a refractometer? The bags were either small mixes of salt or from my knowledge a bag of salt makes 50gallons correct me if I'm wrong? I hope it's smaller mix bags of salt?

 

[Reefkeepr1986]

Hydrometer I apologize!!

 

[gemini9]

Might want to invest in a skimmer eventually. They are useful. Even a little skimmer that hangs on the back of your tank like I have. It will pull allot of the muck out of your system.

 

[direfishking27]

I will get a skimmer when I get more money and I have a hydrometer and my bags make 25 gallons a bag but the first bag was at 1.026 but then it tanked and the salinity disappeared and there where white flakes on top of the water so I added an aerator and that has seemed to stop that it's currently at 1.024

 

[leptang]

Yes when mixing up saltwater from a salt powder in a bucket you will not get a true S.G. (1.026) it is best to aerate the water 24 hours after mixing up a batch, then retest the S.G. before adding the new water to your tank. Also temperature of the saltwater changes reading on a hydrometer; here is a better understanding of how it works Temperature Corrections for Hydrometers by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com also a protein skimmer will speed up the time it takes to get rid of that bad smell and cloudy water. Also after getting all that under control, then work on testing you water for alkalinity calcium and magnesium and then add live stock of your choice, before burning money on things that can die if your water isn't right. The link above has lots of good to know stuff about reef keeping. Hope you enjoy your project and never give up on the ups and downs to come.

 

[SantaMonica]

Cloudy is normal for a bacteria bloom.