Water smells

[spamvicious]

I’m having an issue with the water smelling bad. I’m doing 10% water changes every week and when I do that I also suction the sand. I feed the two clowns half a cube of frozen food twice a day. I have one hermit crab (he killed the other one), one snail, one tuxedo urchin and a blood red shrimp in a 135l tank.

my nitrate is 15 which I can’t seem to get any lower and every couple of days there’s more brown algae on the glass. I leave the algae at the back for the urchin and the snail to eat. I’ve just got an rodi unit so I can do bigger water changes if needed.

I have a couple of soft frags and I added a BTA a couple of days ago.

Any suggestions?.

 

[Dreminon]

are you running carbon? that will help

 

[spamvicious]

are you running carbon? that will help

No, I’m running a canister filter with bio media and sponge plus a protein skimmer

 

[Mikedawg]

+ on carbon

 

[Rmckoy]

Carbon will help but there is something missing .

do you have a lot of flow?
How often is the canister being throughly cleaned ( disassemble and scrub everything)

generally when they smell there is either something dead or dying

 

[Alex's Nano Reef]

The main diet is frozen food? Try out a pellet or flake food for a few weeks and see if that could be it. normally I feed frozen food as a treat every now and then.

 

[Dreminon]

No, I’m running a canister filter with bio media and sponge plus a protein skimmer

HOB skimmer? or in a sump? if in a sump just get bag of carbon and put in high flow area. also how old is your tank? any pictures?

 

[spamvicious]

HOB skimmer? or in a sump? if in a sump just get bag of carbon and put in high flow area. also how old is your tank? any pictures?

The tank was originally an all in one but the previous owner converted it to use an external filter that sits in the cabinet below.

 

[spamvicious]

The main diet is frozen food? Try out a pellet or flake food for a few weeks and see if that could be it. normally I feed frozen food as a treat every now and then.

I was giving them flake food but that was causing build up in the sand so that’s why I changed to frozen but I have both so can alternate.

 

[spamvicious]

Carbon will help but there is something missing .

do you have a lot of flow?
How often is the canister being throughly cleaned ( disassemble and scrub everything)

generally when they smell there is either something dead or dying

Canister is given a proper clean every month. Tank is just under four months old. I’ve got a return pump pipe and a wave maker. I’m out at the moment this is from a couple of weeks ago so the large piece of rock creating the bridge is gone and so is the stylo frag.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I was giving them flake food but that was causing build up in the sand so that’s why I changed to frozen but I have both so can alternate.

I agree with @Rmckoy flakes weigh nothing so if they are able to sink down to the sand and stay there, it would indicate a problem with flow. If I drop a flake in my tank, it will blow around for hours until I lose track of it.

 

[spamvicious]

I agree with @Rmckoy flakes weigh nothing so if they are able to sink down to the sand and stay there, it would indicate a problem with flow. If I drop a flake in my tank, it will blow around for hours until I lose track of it.

I was probably over feeding at the start as was also target feeding the shrimp with small pellets. I’ll go back to flakes for now.

 

[sfin52]

No, I’m running a canister filter with bio media and sponge plus a protein skimmer

You need the carbon. It removes smells and clears the water

 

[sfin52]

What canister are you using and skimmer.

 

[spamvicious]

What canister are you using and skimmer.

Canister is fluval 206 and skimmer is boyu wg428

 

[spamvicious]

You need the carbon. It removes smells and clears the water

Can I put some carbon in the back compartments of the tank or does it need to go into the filter?

 

[Dreminon]

From reading your other post seems like You only have the one small wave maker. if so will need more waterflow. depending how that canister is plumbed up it probably would not be that hard to redo it for a sump. any livestock missing? If it was me I would first make sure all dead animals are out. clean the clean canister add in good size bag of carbon to canister or in other high flow area and do a 50% water change. also if only feeding 2 clowns would not need 1/2 cube. I would try 1/4 cube and watch them if they don't eat it all cut back even more to like an 1/6 just keep watching when you feed till you find the sweet spot.

 

[Dreminon]

Can I put some carbon in the back compartments of the tank or does it need to go into the filter?

as long as its in high flow area it does not matter

 

[Dreminon]

Im more so basing this from the fresh water side and from all that I have researched. Im newbie when it comes to salt. hopefully others will chime in if im steering you wrong. good luck from all I have read its a battle.

 

[spamvicious]

From reading your other post seems like You only have the one small wave maker. if so will need more waterflow. depending how that canister is plumbed up it probably would not be that hard to redo it for a sump. any livestock missing? If it was me I would first make sure all dead animals are out. clean the clean canister add in good size bag of carbon to canister or in other high flow area and do a 50% water change. also if only feeding 2 clowns would not need 1/2 cube. I would try 1/4 cube and watch them if they don't eat it all cut back even more to like an 1/6 just keep watching when you feed till you find the sweet spot.

No livestock missing, I barely have any so they’re easy to keep track of. I’ll get some carbon to add to the filter. Canister is lodged into the shelf in the cabinet, inlet and out let pipes go up into the back compartments. The return pump keeps the top of the water moving and the wave maker is on the rest of the tank. My tank is the fluval m90.