Water stinks... Why? Long established tank.

[dturner]

Hello. So my tank water has had a bad smell to it for quite some time... At least a year. I used to think it was my skimmer producing the smell because whenever I would turn it on the house would smell more. Now I realize even with the skimmer off it still stinks.

I'm not sure how to describe the smell, kinda musty fish pooy smelling. My tank is well established. Almost 3 years old. 120 gallons. Decent size sand bed, 2" average... 4" in some places. Is it possible the sand which has air pockets in it (can see little bubbles through glass) is producing a smell? I don't think so but worth mentioning.

Here are my recent parameters:
455 calc
8 Dkh
1120 magnesium
0.2 nitrates
0 phosphates
8 ph
0 Ammon

I recently did a 40% water change and that didn't help. I cleaned my sump really well today (had some detritus in it) and did another 10% water change. No luck.

Posting a few pictures of my setup so you can get an idea of what I'm working with. I do not run carbon... I did and never helped with smells so I stopped.

I may have forgotten some info, just let me know what questions you have. Thanks for your help!

 

[kschweer]

Do you run carbon on your system? If not try running it for
A few weeks it should help remove the smell.

 

[eliramos]

Do you run carbon on your system? If not try running it for
A few weeks it should help remove the smell.

+ 1

 

[dturner]

As I mentioned I do not run carbon. I ran it for the vast majority of the time my system has been running and it did absolutely nothing for the smell. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[kschweer]

As I mentioned I do not run carbon. I ran it for the vast majority of the time my system has been running and it did absolutely nothing for the smell. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Not sure how I missed that in the original post...lol. Another quick question, you said it would smell when you turned the skimmer on. Do you run the skimmer intermittently or is it on 24/7?

 

[dturner]

When I do run the skimmer it runs 24/7. I can only run it for so many days before it stinks up my whole house and the wife doesn't like it. It produces some really stinky foam. I went as far as custom building a carbon filter for the lid and it does absolutely nothing for me.

 

[dturner]

By the way I use ro di water in case anyone is wondering.. Seems like a no brainer but I'm sure that will be a question if I don't state it. Also have a wp40 power head and Korellia and a 2000 gallon per hour tank turnover using a dc9000 return pump.

So we can rule flow out too.

Should I remove my sand bed and put a new one in?

 

[Eienna]

I wonder if it's your water at all. Can you check for mold around/under/inside the stand?

 

[Gundo]

Have you checked everywhere around the tank for a fish that decided to go carpet surfing? Holy hell that's a horrible smell...

 

[AppleJack]

Weird. It could be water that has seeped into the wood of your stand and it is just getting old and stinky. Goodluck

 

[dturner]

I just did a thorough check and no signs of mold or even moisture in the stand at all. I put my nose above the water In my actual display and I can smell the smell that I'm trying to describe. If I had mold I couldn't smell it in the water itself right?

 

[DAS212]

I had a similar issue with a smaller tank. I know you said carbon didnt work but you really need to try again. Go buy a bag of chemiure elite and put it in a high flow area of your sump for a few days. I bet you that will take care of it

 

[tuna_bullet]

how much carbon did you use...and have you tried a media reactor....and if you just put carbon in a bag and throw it in the sump it only does 20% max effectiveness....by using a reactor 100% of your water passes thru the carbon and should take the smell out.... just my .02...i run three reactors on my system 800g

 

[dturner]

I ran a brs carbon reactor with rox.8 high end carbon for years. it did nothing for the smell. I would think the same thing if I hadn't already tried it. I think my problems lies somewhere else. Please keep the comments rolling guys, excellent thoughts.

 

[DAS212]

That is so weird. I wish you cold "post" a smell on the forum

 

[dturner]

I was just thinking the same thing. I know someone would recognize that smell. Wish I could describe it better. It's putting a huge damper on my reefing experience. What really sucks is no one seems to have had this problem. Leave it to me to have a rare unheard of problem that can't be solved... Ughhh.

 

[DAS212]

I would still try chemi pure elite that's what worked for me

 

[dturner]

I am going to give it a shot tomorrow most likely but I am skeptical. Not going to pass up any chances of fixing it. Was yours an overwhelming smell or just a slight scent? Mine is bad enough to where I walk in the door of my house and the smell hits me like a ton of bricks.

 

[DAS212]

It was a nano and I had it in my room. It was enough to freak my out and not want to sleep in there. I was new to reefing and it was pretty overwhelming. I ended up sleeping in another room until it was gone for fear that I had made some armature mistake and was leeching crap into the room lol. The chemi pure took the smell away pretty quickly.

 

[Gundo]

I once had a fish make its way down to the sump and got wedged into a PVC elbow that led to my return pump. I had a bad water smell for quite some time before I found the fish which had began to decompose. Just a thought if your missing any fish.