Smelly tank

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

If I need a bigger cuc, I can add.

Don't do this. Let's find out what's going on first. What size tank is it? How much LR do you have, skimmer, fish/bio-load ...
Give us all that info from scratch ... so I don't have to read the whole post
Just wanna help, too tired to read everything

[Coralgurl]

I appreciate the help, thank you!

Tank size posted above but it's 180 plus 80 gl sump. Have a reef octopus 5000 skimmer, 2 mp 40s. Approximate 140 lbs of live rock.

Bioload
2 clowns
Bangaii cardinal
Royal gramma
Solar wrasse
Radiant wrasse
Hippo tang

20 sand snails
30 reg snails
Approximate 5 hermits

Mix of lps corals, toad stool, mushrooms, zoos.
Transferred tank on march 5 from my 55 gl after cycle. All fish and corals look good. Sand has been looking dirty for just over a week which is why I added the sand snails and starfish. It's been getting worse over the past 2 days.

[gregzz4]

I'm typing a lot of this, not just for your benefit, but for all.
I am no expert by any means, but have learned SO much from Canreef that I would like to tell you this ....

Whether or not anyone else agrees, I like your bio-load so far in so far as you haven't pushed it.
You have 140lbs of rock. Is it Live for sure? Just asking. Sounds like you are off to a good start. You have lots of rock to support your charges.
You may have added too many snails at one time due to a lack of food for them.
You can go to the LFS and buy a 'cleanup crew package', but that is almost always based on a tank being fully populated. Anything less and they may starve.
I could very well be wrong here, besides the fact that your smell came on so soon, but I wonder if you put too many dudes in at one time?
I could go out to the LFS tomorrow and buy a 'package' for my tank, but most would die in 1 or 2 days 'cause I don't have anything for them to feed on.

I see you have ammo, which is never good. Did it exist previously or is it the result of too many dudes? This you may never know. Have you been monitoring ammo and nitrites lately?

At this point, I would suggest you keep a record of your results 2-3 times daily. Mostly, test for ammo and nitrites. I'm anal about ammo, so you could test just once a day, but I recommend you test it multiple times over the next days until you see something you like.
Test nitrates once a day if you like.
You will need to do lots of small water changes if your ammo does not go away over the next couple of days, and in the meantime, you should do some small changes now.
Keep your ammo as low as you can or you will lose more dudes and the cycle will exacerbate itself.
And don't forget that although some additives will help lower readings, you're best to not do so unless you are comfortable.
Ie; using Prime or AmQuel can/will lower ammo, but you could lose your dudes due to low O2. You MUST heavily aerate if this is your choice.

Hope this is not too wordy and helps you as I do tend to go on ...
Oh, and by the way ........

[Coralgurl]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

I'm typing a lot of this, not just for your benefit, but for all.
I am no expert by any means, but have learned SO much from Canreef that I would like to tell you this ....

Whether or not anyone else agrees, I like your bio-load so far in so far as you haven't pushed it. Learned this with first tank...no rush to add anything
You have 140lbs of rock. Is it Live for sure? Bought rock off other canreefers, all sold as live, one batch was dry, was pulled from their sump, more like base rock, was about 40 lbs if I remember correctly, all the rest was live Just asking. Sounds like you are off to a good start. You have lots of rock to support your charges.
You may have added too many snails at one time due to a lack of food for them. First batch of snails was to start the cuc going, I haven't found any empty shells
You can go to the LFS and buy a 'cleanup crew package', but that is almost always based on a tank being fully populated. Anything less and they may starve.
I could very well be wrong here, besides the fact that your smell came on so soon, but I wonder if you put too many dudes in at one time? When buying the sand snails last weekend, was only going to pick up 10, 20 was recommended.
I could go out to the LFS tomorrow and buy a 'package' for my tank, but most would die in 1 or 2 days 'cause I don't have anything for them to feed on.

I see you have ammo, which is never good. Did it exist previously or is it the result of too many dudes? No ammo previouslyThis you may never know. Have you been monitoring ammo and nitrites lately? Checking every couple of days, but with the dirty sand, knew there was an issue, but no algae on the rocks, glass needs cleaning every couple of days. Just figured new tank syndrome, add more dudes...lol
At this point, I would suggest you keep a record of your results 2-3 times daily. Mostly, test for ammo and nitrites. I'm anal about ammo, so you could test just once a day, but I recommend you test it multiple times over the next days until you see something you like.
Test nitrates once a day if you like. I can test 2x a day
You will need to do lots of small water changes if your ammo does not go away over the next couple of days, and in the meantime, you should do some small changes now. Mixing water tonight, can change tomorrow
Keep your ammo as low as you can or you will lose more dudes and the cycle
will exacerbate itself.
And don't forget that although some additives will help lower readings, you're best to not do so unless you are comfortable.
Ie; using Prime or AmQuel can/will lower ammo, but you could lose your dudes due to low O2. You MUST heavily aerate if this is your choice.

Hope this is not too wordy and helps you as I do tend to go on ...

Oh, and by the way ........

So...water changes, monitor ammo, do not remove dead dudes (), get things back to normal...deal with smelly house....should go away in a couple days. I honestly don't think I have a single sand snail still alive as not one has come out when I feed the fish..I didn't think I added too many, acclimated them, I'm anal about this....hmmm
Thanks again!

[Coralgurl]

Forgot to mention I have shrimp too, 2 cleaners, 1 fire shrimp and 1 peppermint, also a porcelain crab, all are ok and I know these guys are sensitive...they were all transferred from the 55 as well.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

So...water changes, monitor ammo, do not remove dead dudes

I personally never said anything about NOT removing carcasses.
Keep an eye on your params and do what you have to do.
So what's your ammo at now? And your nitrites/nitrates?
Like I said earlier, test them frequently until you are comfortable/find a base-line.
Because you have an ammo issue, 0.25, I recommend you test frequently until you see a base-line. Before that, you should be doing water changes to keep the ammo at bay.
Ammo can rise in hours, not days, so you need to monitor it constantly.
And I did mention the bit about things that can reduce ammo. Prime or AmQuel. Don't over-do them. They will drop your o2 to near death levels.

So, are you doing another ammo test as you read this?
You should be. And you should have at least one powerhead breaking the surface of your DT too.

Report back tomorrow with your reading.

Sorry to come across as short, I'm tired and going to bed

[Coralgurl]

Results this morning
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrates 5.0
Nitrites 0

Didn't see your post last night, will fish out as many snails as I can this morning.
Have some prime, will add in, return lines are pointed at surface of tank, have good water movement.
The bf is jome today, he will monitor the tank as the ammo has def gone up slightly.
No worries on comments, I misunderstood about removing carcasses...was late.
Water change tonight, have about 60 gls of water made up.

[Coralgurl]

Didn't have time to post before I left, but I found only 5 snails (out of 20) - all alive. Made quite a mess of the tank with the sand moving around, so didn't keep at it for long. My radiant wrasse was still sleeping, so stayed away from his area. None of the livestock looked stressed either last night or this morning (the ones that were out). I also didn't see any dead shells from the other snails anywhere....will post mid day results...