well water...smelling like sulphur..... & bleach!!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
keepinfish

keepinfish

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Jun 29, 2007
7,398
709
174
47
In God We Trust
I live in the country and have a well that is around 250' deep. I have had the well for around 6 years. Recently i have been smelling sulfur in our water. I have talked around and they say it is a bacteria causing the smell and i need to pour X amount of chlorine bleach into my well. Get it into all my lines and let it sit for 24 hours. Then run it all out until i no longer smell bleach and it should take care of the bacteria problem. However, it worries the hell out of me with my tanks. All my tanks are on drips. Do you think i could shut off all my drips and go without a water change for a week or so and purge my lines the best i can, then hook my drips back up. Do you think i would be ok? I am worried as any amounts of bleach in my system could be devastating.
 
you can go 2 weeks without a WC even 3
to do this add around 500ML of purigen to your sump or canister and your set
 
you might want to do more research more than just bacteria can cause that smell. is the taste affected as well? i will also try to get a hold of one of my friends to try to find out more causes.
 
jeffers;4612238; said:
you might want to do more research more than just bacteria can cause that smell. is the taste affected as well? i will also try to get a hold of one of my friends to try to find out more causes.
Click to expand...


i hear that other things "could" cause this smell. i can not taste it and to me the smell is not real bad. Just slightly. but i hear that you should "sterilize" your well every so often, and i have never except after my new construction 6 years ago. I hear a bad bladder tank...etc. cut this is where i was told to start.

Let me know what you find out. It is currently not affecting my fish at all. So i think i am good there.
 
I would set up a kiddy pool or something with alot of water and run a pump on it, then turn off the drip systems and clean out the well. The kiddy pool can be used if your water params get out of wack durring the period.
 
Just to be clear... Not my tank.... My well water. However it drips to my tanks but is immediately ran into my sump. I think this is why my tanks don't smell like it just my water out of the faucet does. The smell from what I understand is from hydrogen sulfide. It can be produced by sulfur bacteria In the well.
 
I find it hard to believe that dumping bleach in a well that is an aquafer/huge under ground lake
can cure the issue of bacteria or sulfur smell. To me the volume of bleach to actually clear up the
bacteria and circulate it around the aquafer would have to be quite active. I would do more research
into it. Most Aquafers can cover many, many square miles. To me it would be easier to
clean/clear it up would be to filter as it comes up through the plumbing. Do you have a water
softner or a pressure tank which would increase oxygenation?
 
If I were you, I would look further into this smell/issue. Maybe call up an environmentalist/chemist to do an analysis of the water.

This issue reminds me of an Environmental studies course I took back in college. It talked about Woburn's Wells G and H and how there were VOC's in the ground water. The problem could be a lot worse than just "bacteria."

Long story short... carcinogens were being leeched into the ground water through different channels of flows underground. Children in the vicinity who were getting water pumped from the specified wells had a very specific type of cancer.

This is a good synopsis:
http://www.mass.gov/Eeohhs2/docs/dph/environmental/investigations/woburn_exposure_wells.pdf
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom