Tank smells horrible

[Spare time]

Update i put fresh carbon In a filter media bag and put It in my hob filter and it has not helped with the smell at all

Microbe lift and prime can both smell pretty badly. I think its the microbe lift. That stuff can STINK.

 

[saltygoldfish]

Microbe lift and prime can both smell pretty badly. I think its the microbe lift. That stuff can STINK

its weird cause my other saltwater tank I use that on doesn’t smell i guess it’s a mystery lol

 

[DeniseAndy]

So, if I get this straight, you have a tank that has been running for 2 weeks and it is smelly. The only animals added were the 2 crabs that you cannot find.

Now, questions...
Did you start the tank with live wet rock?
Did you add a bacteria in a bottle starter? Not the prime or ammonia reducing stuff.
Do you have lights running on the tank?
What is the filtration?

For sure, stop the prime and other additives. These are not needed for a reef tank to begin a cycle or if you used live wet rock. Even if you started dry, do not use these. They are for a qt situation and for emergencies as stated above.

 

[KevPool]

small tanks are so much harder I recently tore down my 5gal, try and keep on top of water changes even if you do smaller ones twice a week.

 

[Apollo7235]

So just an empty shell and no trace of the second crab?

Wow. I would be interested to know if you started this tank with live rock and possibly have a nasty hitch hiker in there somewhere. Always a possibility that they jumped ship as well, but the empty shell leads me to believe otherwise…

 

[saltygoldfish]

So, if I get this straight, you have a tank that has been running for 2 weeks and it is smelly. The only animals added were the 2 crabs that you cannot find.

Now, questions...
Did you start the tank with live wet rock?
Did you add a bacteria in a bottle starter? Not the prime or ammonia reducing stuff.
Do you have lights running on the tank?
What is the filtration?

For sure, stop the prime and other additives. These are not needed for a reef tank to begin a cycle or if you used live wet rock. Even if you started dry, do not use these. They are for a qt situation and for emergencies as stated above

almost Live rock if that makes sense (dry rock that was in a established aquarium for a very short time.)
yes I used stability from seachem
yes right now only “plant leds”
tetra hob 10-20 gal
and I’ll stop using prime etc.

 

[saltygoldfish]

So just an empty shell and no trace of the second crab?

Wow. I would be interested to know if you started this tank with live rock and possibly have a nasty hitch hiker in there somewhere. Always a possibility that they jumped ship as well, but the empty shell leads me to believe otherwise…

I’m curious as well

 

[MaxTremors]

small tanks are so much harder I recently tore down my 5gal, try and keep on top of water changes even if you do smaller ones twice a week.

I completely disagree about small tanks being harder. They are different, there are different considerations and trade-offs, but they’re not any more difficult than a larger tank (I’ve kept tanks from 2-200 gallons).

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I completely disagree about small tanks being harder. They are different, there are different considerations and trade-offs, but they’re not any more difficult than a larger tank (I’ve kept tanks from 2-200 gallons).

+1 I find my 45 AIO is far easier than my previous 75 w/sump

 

[Wasabiroot]

Are you using the powdered form of Prime or the liquid form? The powdered smells like liquid farts and would be extremely easy to overdose in a nano tank. Liquid is still quite potent. I agree that the biome needs to get some opportunity to establish as both of these additives remove oxygen and affect the water chemistry in not so subtle ways. other than that I think most others have said it better than I about waiting before using too many additives.

One thing I will add is, I feel the nose is an underrated tool in our hobby. Smelling frags for signs of infection, smelling the tank water... the skimmate etc... oftentimes many key observations can be had from our nose.

 

[DeniseAndy]

almost Live rock if that makes sense (dry rock that was in a established aquarium for a very short time.)
yes I used stability from seachem
yes right now only “plant leds”
tetra hob 10-20 gal
and I’ll stop using prime etc.

Okay, sounds like you may have been able to skip the main cycle if the rock was liveish. So, bacteria would b e fine to add.
I would shut off the lights. No need for them at all until you add something that needs them. All you are doing (especially with plant lights) is growing algae and nuisance stuff.
On a 5g tank, you can do a 100% water change with no issues to system. Youcan even clean out the sand, tank, etc. then put all the rock back in with new water without a cycle. I do this all the time on my 6g, even on my 40g and 20g. Then you will start new with clean water, clean rock (rinse them in saltwater to keep the biologics in tact, no lights and no cycle (provided the rock was in water for at least a week or so).

If it smells that bad, I would do the 100% change and clean out. Just to get all that junk added out of the system. JMO

 

[dhnguyen]

...The powdered smells like liquid farts and would be extremely easy to overdose in a nano tank. ...

Um... What exactly is liquid fart? If it's liquid then I'm afraid you've done more than farting.

 

[saltygoldfish]

Are you using the powdered form of Prime or the liquid form? The powdered smells like liquid farts and would be extremely easy to overdose in a nano tank. Liquid is still quite potent. I agree that the biome needs to get some opportunity to establish as both of these additives remove oxygen and affect the water chemistry in not so subtle ways. other than that I think most others have said it better than I about waiting before using too many additives.

One thing I will add is, I feel the nose is an underrated tool in our hobby. Smelling frags for signs of infection, smelling the tank water... the skimmate etc... oftentimes many key observations can be had from our nose.

I use the liquid