smelly water.....

[dolphins8426]

I noticed this morning that my water in my tank seems kinda smelly. its perfectly clear and all my level are right on the money but when I took some water out to run some water tests I noticed it has a weird odor to it. is this normal or have I done something wrong?

 

[Bifferwine]

It depends... Is your tank still cycling? If you have animals, are all of them present and accounted for (nothing is dead/missing)? When did you do your last water change? Are you running a skimmer or carbon?

 

[dolphins8426]

all animals accounted for and I am running carbon. within the last week I did a water change. I haven't hooked up my protein skimmer but I am going to in a few days. protein skimmer will take the funk out of my water

 

[Doc]

smell water is usually associated with poor quality. A skimmer may help, but fresh carbon is the best solution. Make sure you are running enough to keep up with your tank and change it out to see if that helps. I have to change it out about once a month. Use the large pellet size variety as opposed to the crushed powder, it lasts longer

-Doc

 

[reeffreak]

I've been using Chemipure the last several weeks.Man,that stuff takes the funk out of the water.Its like carbon but better and lasts longer.

 

[HAWKS12thMAN]

I would put my money on the carbon. I change mine every 2-3 weeks and it has funk. Do you run a filter sock or any other partical catchers. If so wash them weekly.

 

[Doc]

it seems to work best to put the carbon in a media bag and then drop the media bag in the filter sock attached to the sump. If you do not have a sump and use a HOB filter, then that is likely to be the problem. The carbon in those lousey cotton-fiber looking things is useless. They last about 2 days. Don't buy those anymore and put in a media bag with the carbon in it and wedge it in the HOB. I do that with carbon and phosguard for my 90 and it works great. Clear water with no stank!

-Doc

 

[HAWKS12thMAN]

I do the same thing Doc. I drop my media bag right in my filter sock. I have a question though. Latly I have been washing the carbon every week when I clean my filter sock. I still change it every 2-3 weeks. Do you think roughing it up and rinsing it out helps at all? Or am I doing more harm than good?

 

[Doc]

I am not sure if it helps. I guess if the pores of the bag are clogged with crap, washing might help. I have never seen mine get clogged in a month. If yours is getting clogged, there might be something off in your parameters. I only wash my filter sock once a month and things seem to be OK. When I wash it, I put the washing machine on the smallest load setting, use only hot water, use the extra rinse cycle and drop in a capful of straight bleach. It has worked for me

-Doc

 

[MikMcgyver]

I use chemi-pure too, works great... That reminds me, gotta get some new stuff and change it...

 

[yote]

Chemi-pure Elite for me.Along with a dose of T.L.C.s Marine S.A.T.