Water has musty/mildew smell

[Amateur Reefer]

I am running a triton system, but have a recent outbreak of diatoms or dinos (can't tell, its brown and powdery in the glass and sand). So yesterday, I did a 20% water change and vacuumed the sand. The water I took out was brown, looked like a wet skim.

Today, the water has a strong musty, mildew like smell. I put a lot of passive carbon in there (my reactor is out of commission at the moment) but it doesn't seem to help.

Any ideas on what this can be? Should I just keep doing daily changes until it goes away?

Phosphates are 0
Nitrates are 10
Ph is 8.13
Alk is 8.32
CA is 500
Mg is 1276

 

[reef lover]

My thoughts are that you disturbed the sand bed causing the release of gasses.

 

[Amateur Reefer]

My thoughts are that you disturbed the sand bed causing the release of gasses.

So is there anything I can/should do?

 

[Fish_Sticks]

So is there anything I can/should do?

No worries - your skimmer should clean it up nicely. It's good to stir that muck up a couple times a year - some do it monthly...

 

[reef lover]

Get your reactor back online or find a better spot for carbon.
Going forward remember to either vacuum the bed continuously or dont touch it at all . People with a deep sand bed generally dont stir it. As gasses build up in the breakdown process and will be released when you do.

 

[Amateur Reefer]

No worries - your skimmer should clean it up nicely. It's good to stir that muck up a couple times a year - some do it monthly...

But how long until the smell dissipates? The tanks are in my home office where I work all day!

 

[Amateur Reefer]

Get your reactor back online or find a better spot for carbon.
Going forward remember to either vacuum the bed continuously or dont touch it at all . People with a deep sand bed generally dont stir it. As gasses build up in the breakdown process and will be released when you do.

I never touch it. I'm running triton, I don't even do water changes.

I only did it because of this diatom/dino issue and the high nitrates.

 

[reef lover]

The only that will help with the smell is carbon or large water change.

 

[Fish_Sticks]

But how long until the smell dissipates? The tanks are in my home office where I work all day!

Hmmm... not long. Those are the questions that imply this is problematic.

It sounds like this is a good thing, you know... The sandbed is getting freshened up in a way, and corals are being fed. Nothing to be alarmed by.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Smells are subjective to an extent, so it's difficult for us to give you a precise diagnosis as to the cause of the odor from your post. But it may be useful to note that both certain species of diatoms and cyanobacteria have a relatively strong odor that some would interpret as musty. Probably (though not definitively) the majority of the odor is coming from your skimmer cup. If you want to minimize the smell, I'd completely clean the collection cup and the top of the neck of the skimmer that's accumulated a biofilm (i.e., it's brown/green).

Some folks place a bag of activated carbon on top of the skimmer vent holes to reduce odor. While that's not terribly efficient from the air contact viewpoint, it may help some.

 

[Amateur Reefer]

I put a lot of carbon in and the smell is starting to go down. Here's the algae I'm dealing with and why I disturbed the sand bend to begin with. As I said, it's hard to ID what this is definitively. Could it be causing the smell? And how do I get rid of this algae!

 

[Dkeller_nc]

The algae I'm seeing in the pics just looks like normal film algae that every reef aquarium has. In general, it's not possible to keep a reef tank with a healthy coral and fish population and maintain pure-white sand. I'd just continue with your normal tank maintenance schedule.

If the film algae on the glass is growing so quickly that it causes you to have to clean the glass every day, it may be time to check your nutrient export equipment, such as your skimmer. Your nitrates and phosphates aren't excessive by any stretch, but it is possible to have relatively low inorganic nutrients in the water and still have accelerated algae growth because the algae are taking up the nutrients as fast as they're created.