Problems with fish room.

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BuildingBlocks

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 16, 2011
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Nj, flanders
Well here it goes...

Currently i'm in the process of moving. But my basement which is also my room and fishroom.... has a "fishy" smell to it. and the smell bombards the whole house and my parents don't like it. How do you keep the smell to the very minimum downlow? also say you want to upgrade and downgrade at the same time.... Like keep 600gallon tank and get rid of the rest... how do you keep the humidity down and any odors?

My tank crashed that's why it stinks at the moment. But it keeps happening. I think it's the size of the tanks(55gs) and the equipment(rena-- which sucks stops working after a month).
 
they sell moisture trap bags that you hang and draw in moisture in the air, if you have a window get some circulation down there and i mean for smells they sell these large citrus disks that i use, smell like orange.. ussually does the trick... nd if the rena is a prob there no reason u cant get a HOB for a 55 gallon ...


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Hello; I have had smelly tanks and surroundings at times in the past. There can be different distinct issues as well as combinations of things. In a tank I have found that low stocking density and light feeding appear to have helped. I like to have rooted and floating live plants as well as snails, these seem to help to keep any excess food and waste in check.
I also suspect a good amount of air bubbles to be an aid.
Water changes cannot hurt.
Outside a tank issues can include stuff such as the food and the effects of humidity. Live or frozen foods have sometimes generated their own smells. I have tried raising a few live food sources and all can begin to smell, often at the best you can do. Other food containers can be sealed in plastic bags or containers. Same can go for the various chemicals used around a tank. Each Can add a bit of smell and add up to a general stink.
Basements can be humid and smelly even without tanks. I was able to keep basement windows open during warm weather in one house in which I had tanks set up and with an oil furnace in the basement the heat kept the humidity down. In my current house I tried runnig a dehumidifier during last winter as the heat pump here does not take much moisture out of the air on it's own. This helped.
If you or other family members have dogs, cats or other pets in a closed up house and the humidity is high, this will add a layer of smell on it's own.
I have gotten in a habit of smelling my tanks when around them and address any smells that show up. As a guess reducing the tank stock density and go with lighter feedings may be a good place to start. I normally skip a day or two of feeding each week for mature fish which results in the fish and snails scouring any excess food source. It may be better to have cleaner tanks with fewer fish than to upset the parental units. Good luck
 
Sounds like you need to thoroughly clean the tank that crashed...and air out the basement (fishroom). Do you have some portable fans?

Are the tanks covered?

Do you use carbon in the filters of the tanks? Sounds like you might need to...at least temporarily.

Glade plug ins never hurt, either!

Matt
 
Bathroom vent on a timer and cover the roofs of your tanks. works for me. Only time I get a smell is when I leave the prawns in the room :(

A reverse cycle unit would be good, then you can dehumidify,vent, cool and heat all from the one unit and they go quite cheap. depending on your amount of tanks you could even heat the room up which will save you money in the long run. a decent R/C unit with a good heat pump will cost you 11C to run during off peak hours (not sure if you have this in america) Then you can dehumidify for 1-2 hours. Best part is you can set them all up so you say u want X % of humidity and when your room reaches over this it will remove the excess (which will remove most of your smell also) then you can have it keep the room at a constant temp. Good investment ;)
 
Squirtle919 said:
Bathroom vent on a timer and cover the roofs of your tanks. works for me. Only time I get a smell is when I leave the prawns in the room :(

A reverse cycle unit would be good, then you can dehumidify,vent, cool and heat all from the one unit and they go quite cheap. depending on your amount of tanks you could even heat the room up which will save you money in the long run. a decent R/C unit with a good heat pump will cost you 11C to run during off peak hours (not sure if you have this in america) Then you can dehumidify for 1-2 hours. Best part is you can set them all up so you say u want X % of humidity and when your room reaches over this it will remove the excess (which will remove most of your smell also) then you can have it keep the room at a constant temp. Good investment ;)
Click to expand...

That sounds confusing... :< Explain in simpler terms please? I'm very handy I just need exact directions. I'd try glade but I'm not sure if it can actually remove the stench that kinda has been imprinted in the room. I live there that's why. I like living there but this is even uncomfortable to me. I can tolerate odors but it got bad.

I actually have turtles and I need to upgrade their tank. The food I give them are home made gel suspensions(consist of: Krill,trout, salmon, tilapia ,crab, shrimp, lobster, crickets, worms, carrots, apples, pumpkin, kale, mustard greens, etc).

The crab I buy it live(same with pretty much the lobster, crickets, worms, and assorted insects). I may add diff meats occassionaly to spice things up. But the crab and lobster are what stinks up the food. I end up keeping them in ziplock bags, inside another ziplock and then into a ziplock container thats air tight.

I keep painteds, musks, and a few snapping turtle hatchlings(rescues).

The fish I do keep are brown catfish, a gold saum(high quality from a local breeder), american eels.

I also keep two african clawed frogs, and a pacman(non aquarium).

This basement is actually made into a room(very well made since I actually helped assemble it).

Right now I'm testing things out since when I move to my new house, my parents will decide whether I get to keep the fish in my room or not.
I'd rather not get into an argument but I love to keep them in my own room. I kinda find it pointless not to keep it in my room. I'm very possessive of my pets and absolutely despise anyone going near them without actual permission.

They want to put it in a basement of the new house which is a huge basement... But I really don't want them there since I have an obnoxious sibling and its going to be a family room so I'd rather avoid going there when he goes there. And knowing him he'll be there all the time...

All that said, the said room I'm going in is actually quite spacious the only catch is it's made of wood(and it has a subfloor). Apparently whoever built the house did not think things through...(my opinion).

So if I want to keep them in my room I have to pretty much invest on making beams underneath my room(for floor support) and for any of that to happen.. I have to first prove I can keep them without the stench.

I'm actually going to downgrade a bit on my stock when I do move(sadly)... and keep only the following:
1 snapper and a brown catfish(600gallon tank)
3 musk turtles and an eel(75g)
1 gold saum(55g)

The snapper I hope to run a super mega filtration system I been planning for weeks now...

The musks I hope to acquire two top notch filters for
and the gold saum I'll keep with the fluval that I already own(this bad boy is a powerhouse-- but it cannot handle a snapper tank).

I know it's alot of work but I'm willing to do it because I love them and these are like family to me now. Not sure why but I got highly attached to them and I'd rather keep them within eye sight.
 
Hello; Sounds like the food and turtles may be the prime suspects. Even triple bagged that food odor has to get out even if just when the bag is opened. likely at other times as well. Perhaps a small fridge to keep the food and such in.
I tried turtles off and on for a time and recall that they tended to stink.
I have kept a few live cultures such as insects and such and recall a noatable odor with all of them.
With all that you have described it is not a suprise that there is a smell. There are solutions, but you are going to have to make some choices and may have to change some things and perhaps even give up on some of the pets and or food choices. The parents may make the call for you if you do not get ahead of things.
You could do some heavy cleaning, perhaps even tearing down and setting all the tanks up fresh. Then work hard at keeping all the elements that smell under control.
You do not mention if the fish room can be aired out and ventilated.
It will be interesting to hear how you go about working on the problem if you choose to keep us posted.
 
Alright its like an all in one system for a fish room imo.

If your room gets to hot you need to cool it or cool the fish tanks, glass does crap all apart for holding water so if your air temp is 36c or so like it gets here your tanks will get 34-36C. if the rooms to cold same issue, A R/C unit heats and cools so this is covered.

Your smell is just coming for the water and not enough air movement = stale humid air. Once you move the air around and dehumidify it you would need 2 more systems to do this. Most R/C units also do this so theres 2 more you nail in the one system. They dont dehumidify as good as a stand alone dehumidifier but they do it much cheaper and are overall cheaper then the system. so its an all in one fix for a fish room. + its dirt cheap to run.

Uses a heat pump for heating which costs nothing compared to other heaters. Its about the same as gas heating once you convert the MJ gas heaters use to KW you can see the electricity is actually cheaper over all. for example your room may be 25-30 sq m so you would want 4KW of heating 3.5 KW of cooling. about 1KW p/h energy used of a heat pump creates the 4KW of heat. where gas will use 20-30MJ which is around 7-8 KW ;P So else your gas is dirt cheap theres not much use + gas heaters hardly push the heat so you end up with thermal layers.

Anyways I would find a R/C unit get it installed run it dehumidifying and fanning (if you go with some units you have the option of air exchanger also) 1-2 hours moroing then 2 hours are night or as required. To test you can get a big fan for a day aim it outside your bedroom and see if the smell goes once its moved the stale air around a bit. You should also cover your tanks. turtle tank will be a bit hard because glass will block out your UV light. If your hose holds heat fine and you dont need the a/c heating features just install a bathroom fan

Hope that makes sense its not easy to explain xD

as for your food issues, Use frozen foods you can keep in the freezer. I have turtles,snakes and lizards in my room and no issues with smell. like I said else I leave prawns in there to root . I used to have stale air issues but the unit works. Just not sure if its really worth investing 1k into your room it sounds more like a bed room and you may find a cheaper fix.
 
Squirtle919 said:
Alright its like an all in one system for a fish room imo.

If your room gets to hot you need to cool it or cool the fish tanks, glass does crap all apart for holding water so if your air temp is 36c or so like it gets here your tanks will get 34-36C. if the rooms to cold same issue, A R/C unit heats and cools so this is covered.

Your smell is just coming for the water and not enough air movement = stale humid air. Once you move the air around and dehumidify it you would need 2 more systems to do this. Most R/C units also do this so theres 2 more you nail in the one system. They dont dehumidify as good as a stand alone dehumidifier but they do it much cheaper and are overall cheaper then the system. so its an all in one fix for a fish room. + its dirt cheap to run.

Uses a heat pump for heating which costs nothing compared to other heaters. Its about the same as gas heating once you convert the MJ gas heaters use to KW you can see the electricity is actually cheaper over all. for example your room may be 25-30 sq m so you would want 4KW of heating 3.5 KW of cooling. about 1KW p/h energy used of a heat pump creates the 4KW of heat. where gas will use 20-30MJ which is around 7-8 KW ;P So else your gas is dirt cheap theres not much use + gas heaters hardly push the heat so you end up with thermal layers.

Anyways I would find a R/C unit get it installed run it dehumidifying and fanning (if you go with some units you have the option of air exchanger also) 1-2 hours moroing then 2 hours are night or as required. To test you can get a big fan for a day aim it outside your bedroom and see if the smell goes once its moved the stale air around a bit. You should also cover your tanks. turtle tank will be a bit hard because glass will block out your UV light. If your hose holds heat fine and you dont need the a/c heating features just install a bathroom fan

Hope that makes sense its not easy to explain xD

as for your food issues, Use frozen foods you can keep in the freezer. I have turtles,snakes and lizards in my room and no issues with smell. like I said else I leave prawns in there to root . I used to have stale air issues but the unit works. Just not sure if its really worth investing 1k into your room it sounds more like a bed room and you may find a cheaper fix.
Click to expand...

I like home made foods. But in the new house I'm going to get a mini fridge and put it in there. The home made food will be prepared in my dads going to be fishroom(pardon my language but he knows **** about fish so I don't want my stuff mixing with his and getting all sick-- which knowing him, i'll have to help him on his).

It is my bedroom, it's my sanctuary, my home inside a home, my territory, my fishroom. Whatever you want to call it. My opinion of things is like this:
If you have your own stuff like say a bike, aquariums, video games, tv, etc. You wouldn't put your bike in your neighbors garage right? that's your bike not his. You wouldn't put your ornamental fish in your brothers room would you? Sure it's my family. But the point of my other fish to be in my room is because it relaxes me. Otherwise I would just work at an aquarium rather than keep it downstairs... I have weird logic. But it makes sense to me and nothing really is going to change that. It's not a matter of whats right or wrong. It's a matter of choices and preferences. My room may get messy but not as bad as I've seen soo that's no problem.

OH NO EFFING WAY RC MEANS AIR CONDITIONER? LOL I feel like a tard. Well yeah I could get one of those. But then what do I do with it? like how do I work it?

I'm already saving up over 3k for my room. I'm getting a headstart on it this friday. But it's just a rough number of what I need. Since I know i need alot for the aquarium upgrades sooo I may need even more than that... :v I'm trying to revamp my room. It looks too gloomy so I also wanted to redo my aquariums all over. If one things for sure. I aint dropping my snapping turtle or my prized fish. They're my joy.

I'm actually just trying to train my turtle . Which is actually going good. The home made foods are to be cut to the size it can completely swallow it but it's big enough. You know what I mean? I kept going my inches on how big it should be. I'd measure his face but he gets pissy when I do. I think I need the tank to be made so it's more efficient. I'm ditching the sand and only using sand for the fish.

In the snappers I think I'm just leaving it bare but putting tiles on the bottom(glued to the point where it's basically "the bottom" of the tank itself. You know? Not a substrait. Just the bottom. Then I'd put atleast 6 high powered circulation pumps. Since the tank is 10ft long. I need 2 on the bottom. two on top and 2 in the middle. This would have that egg crate board covering them so that they work fine, but they don't get moved by the turtle or broken.

I also think I want to just get a new tank and get it like an oval shape. So that the ends are circular. Like this (===) (imagine this = is more seperated)

and that would make it easier for the system since it's in constant movement because it's more circular. I want to run the filtration system somewhere outside or downstairs in the basement like this guy on youtube did.

I wanna set it up so I can have a switch that automatically adds water to the main tank or the sump if i want to. And one that sucks out the water from the main tank. I also want to find away on how to poweroff the sump from the upstairs. So I don't have to walk down stairs all the time. Lol. This tank is way too big for a snapping turtle. In all honesty they actually do good in a 200g. I wanted to add more water for more efficiency. It's not even overstocked.
 
Get an air exchanger. It will remove the moisture and odors from your fish room and bring in fresh air. Also helps to prevent mold from forming.
 
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