Why does my tank smell?

[davdev]

I am still new at this so sorry if these are basic questions


I recently got a used 75 gallon tank (my first tank since I had Goldfish as a kid).

I built a DIY overflow based on the sticky in the DIY forum, and I have it flowing into a 16 gallon home made sump. I went with the bucket and storage bin kind. The bucket is filled with 4 gallons of bio balls, and filter cloth.

I did a fishless cycle, and when all was good, I decided to test it to see if I could actually keep fish alive, so I went and bought 30 rosy red feeder minnows. I had this going for a few weeks, and all was good, parameters stayed in line, and all the fished lived (well except the ones that got sucked into the filter, which I learned needed to have a stainer added to it). I actually found the Rosy's very interesting to watch, but they are not in the long term plan for the tank

Feeling confident, I added a small group of 5 molly's. Again, all remained good.

Then a few weeks ago, I added a Rainbow shark. Again, all good.

Finally, feeling confident that I knew what I was doing, I went out and bought the future long term inhabitants of the tank. I got an Oscar and a JD, both about 2" at this point. I also got a slightly large firemouth, and a featherfin syno catfish.

Turns out, I may have gotten too aggressive, because my tank water has gotten cloudy, and it is starting to smell. The smell is not overpowering, but still way stronger than my wife will tolerate long term. Also, my nitrite jumped to 1 after being 0, and my nitrate is up to 40. I have to get another ammonia test kit to test that, which I plan on doing today.

My question is, will the cloudiness and smell disappear once the tank gets used to the higher bioload? Right now the fish appear to be fine, everyone is eating, and the oscar even schools with the molly's. That is amusing to watch, especially knowing the molly's will most likely become lunch in the not too distant future. I added stress zyme to the tank, and I have been changing out about 1/3 of the water daily. This seems to have held the parameters constant for the last few days, and I will monitor to make sure it doesn't get real bad. Would love some feedback

 

[philfreenode]

I don't know what exactly is causing your smell. Do you have dead fish somewhere? Media that is exposed to the air and full of poop?

You have too many fish in this tank and you have some fish that are incompatible with eachother. Like you said you were too aggressive with stocking. The mollies need brackish water which requires adding ocean salt mix. They will probably fungus and die in a fresh setup. The Oscar is going to grow to a size that he will need 75 gallons to himself with no other inhabitants. The rainbow shark is going to end up a snack to the oscar or one of the cichlids. I think the oscar and other cichlids you got are good tankmates but as adults they are going to need more space.

To deal with the nitrite you can dissolve a couple teaspoons of aquarium salt or non-iodized table salt in a glass of tankwater and put that in the tank to protect the fish against nitrite.

 

[Yellow_Perch]

well i have my tank smell to sometimes and its cause i forgot to clean it..i siphoned it and it was just fine but you can check maybe for dead fish to you never know..

 

[IrnGynt]

Daily water changes and full tank doses of Prime until your beneficial bacteria catch up (Nitrite and Ammonia = zero)

Not sure about the smell though. Dead fish maybe?

 

[knifegill]

So you're sure your ammonia and nitrite were 0, yet you had no nitrates? Is this an extremely heavily planted tank? Typically as the cycle is completed the nitrates will climb through the roof. Definitely let us know about the ammonia.

It's true that the Oscar alone will max out a 75 gallon tank. You've got a few months to figure that out, though.

Sounds like you're doing a great defensive maneuver with the water changes. Keep them up for now but do realize that the smell should go away once the filtration catches up with your bioload. In all probability you simply have had a mini-cycle. Feed only once a day in small amounts for the time being to keep the waste levels low and in a week or two things should plane out, unless you're somehow nuking your bacteria with untreated tap water or something like that.

 

[kevinfleming21]

because spirit of the soul pooped in your tank.

 

[davdev]

I don't know what exactly is causing your smell. Do you have dead fish somewhere? Media that is exposed to the air and full of poop?

The only thing exposed to air is the filter cloth. I rinsed that out yesterday, and was pretty messy, but it didn't really smell.

The mollies need brackish water which requires adding ocean salt mix. They will probably fungus and die in a fresh setup.

I am fully expecting the molly's to wind up as lunch, same as the rosy reds.

The Oscar is going to grow to a size that he will need 75 gallons to himself with no other inhabitants. I think the oscar and other cichlids you got are good tankmates but as adults they are going to need more space.

Yeah, I am going to monitor that and either move some out when they grow up, or get a bigger tank

To deal with the nitrite you can dissolve a couple teaspoons of aquarium salt or non-iodized table salt in a glass of tankwater and put that in the tank to protect the fish against nitrite.

I will get the aquarium salt and see if that helps out.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

because spirit of the soul pooped in your tank.

^^^



Not sure about the source of the smell, but if you wanna remove it, carbon is the way to go

 

[peathenster]

Bacteria....large and frequent water changes to begin with...a UV should fix it long term also a bit excessive, and add some carbon to your sump if you want the smell gone quicker.

 

[davdev]

So you're sure your ammonia and nitrite were 0, yet you had no nitrates?

No nitrate was about 40, I think, it was a while ago so I don't remember exactly.

Sounds like you're doing a great defensive maneuver with the water changes. Keep them up for now but do realize that the smell should go away once the filtration catches up with your bioload. In all probability you simply have had a mini-cycle. Feed only once a day in small amounts for the time being to keep the waste levels low and in a week or two things should plane out, unless you're somehow nuking your bacteria with untreated tap water or something like that.

Thanks, I will keep an eye on it. I change the water with 5 gallon buckets, and make sure I treat it before putting it in the tank. I think I have been overfeeding, so I will cut down on that as well.