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koolbanti
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 Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:46 am Post subject: Reason for foul smell |
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from past 2 weeks my 150g cichlid tank has developed foul smell. The tank was setup in May and I siphon 70% water with dirt every week. The tank dint smell so bad initially but from past 2 weeks it has got a very bad odor but the water looks clear.
Current stocking:
8-Peacock(4m,4f) - 3~4"
3-Red Kadango(1m,2f) - 4"
4-Blue Dolphin - 3~4"
4-N.Venustus - 2.5"
7-Yellow Lab - 2"
2-Albino Pleco - 2.5"
Filtration: Dolphin C-1600(cleaning once a month) and Resun 1500l/hr internal filter(cleaning once weekly)
Is this normal or is due to any other reason? Any suggestions to correct this is appreciated.
Thanks,
Chetan |
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Ranjitpai
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:00 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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| what are you feeding them ? and how many times ? |
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Prem kk
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:02 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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| Check your tank to see if all your fish are intact, you might see some missing. If so remove the dead fish and do a water change. |
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koolbanti
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:45 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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@Ranjitpai: I feed Hikari Cichlid gold as staple twice a day,fresh market prawns on weekends and no feeding on thursdays and I feed them as much as they can take in 2 mins with no pellets sinking to bottom or float.
@Prem: There are no fish missing, so its not the smell of rotten carcass.
1 day after the last WC smell had reduced but 2 days later the smell is again strong. Can foul smell be because of lack of biological filtration? |
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madhu_ulysses
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:54 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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| Foul smell is primarily due to dead rotting fish in the tank and/or failure of bio filteration. |
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koolbanti
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:06 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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its lack/failure of bio filtration as i guessed.
I have a eheim 2217 with 50% ceramic rings cycling my 65 g tank where i am planning to put a juvi FH. So I got 2 options
1. Put 2217 in addition to dolphin C1600 for the 150g and put top filter to 65g or
2. Swap dolphin with 2217 so that 150g has 2217 and 65g has dolphin.
Which would be better?Or any other idea?? |
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Yogesh
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:17 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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Option#2 sounds good to me. Get your 150G cichlid tank on Eheim, if possible add another 2217 or any other power filter.
Your FH can do with Dolphin.  |
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koolbanti
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:25 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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@Yogesh: ok, ill add eheim to 150g but getting one more 2217 is not possible as of now 
thanks for suggestions. |
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garothmaan
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:33 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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IMO... you'll have to redo the whole tank this time. clean the whole tank and restart (if its not planted)  |
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Yogesh
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:44 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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| garothmaan wrote (View Post):
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IMO... you'll have to redo the whole tank this time. clean the whole tank and restart (if its not planted)
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Good that you added IMO there, Garothmaan.
No need to nuke entire tank & recycle it again. Once effective Bio-Filteration restarts supported with water-change, bad odour will be gone off within few hours. |
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Arnab
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:46 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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Chetan.
You mentioned that you clean the Dolphin C-1600 once a month. Did the smell start after this monthly cleaning? You cleaning might have somehow wiped out the bacteria colony.
Regards.
Arnab. |
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retro_gk
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:08 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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Do you have algae growing in the tank?
What is your source water? |
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mmb19000
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:13 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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| I feel because of rainy season its happening if no fish is missing. i also get bad smell after feeding. May be Humidity plays some role here. Thts my opinion. |
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Chinoy
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:57 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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There are two kinds of bad smeel. Each has its own causes and fix.
One is from death and decay the other from high level of amonia.
If its Amonia it will smell like a public Toilet.
This is normal in a new tank but should not be there after 4-8 weeks of having your tank setup.
Cleaning everything and starting from scratch may not be a very bright idea.
Instead I would recomend the following
a. Right Now Bacteria. Smell will vanish in 8 hours search my old posts.
b. Borrow a Filter or some sand from a well established tank. Add this to your filter.
c. On your internal filter have 2-3 cans. Those black canisters they plug on under the power head. When you clean your filter never clean all the canisters in one shot. i.e. first week clean only the top canister. Leaving those below it untouched. Then next week. Clean the bottom canister but dont touch the top. But adopting this method you are not wiping out your complete bacteria every time you clean your filter. Adding some activated carbon either from cuting open an Ehin pack or from Aqua guard will also help. Both are arround the same price I prefer the Ehin because the carbon pieces are larger.
Another trick I have is buy square blocks of Sponge from shop 7 Bucks a block cut it into strips. ANd wrap this around the canister of your filter. Or just wedge the block between your canister and the glass. The bacteria colony will start to grow in this sponge. And you have a shit load of surface area of moving water and cells for the bacteria. This mod will give you more Bio Filteration than any filter I have seen on the market. The filter may not look nice so hide it with some drift wood or plants. If you use sponge like this then you can wash your complete filter because the bacteria is also in the sponge.
I would have the odd bad smell days but after adding the sponge havent had a single bad day for the past few weeks.
ps: You do know that adding a lot of fresh water with Chlorine is the primary reason for people killing off their good bacteria. So I allways add Hypo with fresh water. |
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koolbanti
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:18 pm Post subject: Re: Reason for foul smell |
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Thanks for all the suggestions.
@garothmaan: redoing as many suggested might kill the BB and I would try other things before i redo everything.
@Arnab: No, the smell existed even before i cleaned the canister. But the BB colony might have got wiped when I did clean the filter.
@Rahul:I do not have algae and use own bore well water for my tank.
@Maulik: I don't think its because of rain since there is hardly any rain here and also not so humid.
@Chinoy: What are these "Square sponge blocks" and where to get them?Are they fish safe?
So overall I see that additional bio-filtration might help or is the stocking too heavy for 150g? |
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