Smelly tank

[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...

[LeanneP]

Hi there,
I had some ammonia problems awhile ago and I also used some ammonia pads to help lower my levels. I also used prime as well but the ammonia pads really seemed to help. Worth a try. Good luck. I know how much it sucks having ammonia.

Leanne

[gregzz4]

When I wrote amquel last night, I meant to write amguard.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...s/AmGuard.html

Prime will be a good start, but it's not recommended to use it continually to remove ammonia. Plus, amguard is more cost effective.

[reefgirl189]

My test for ammonia is always .25
Every day of the week, every week of the month, and every single month the tank has been up (minus the initial cycle where is was a bit higher). It's an API test and I'm pretty sure it's defective.

Do you run filter socks? Because mine give off the same smell, but not so much so that it stinks up the house. Could yours be the culprit? The dirty filter socks may be near a vent and thus the smell is getting blown all around the house?

Also, between us ladies, when a woman is pregnant she tends to have a more sensitive sense of smell. Just sayin'. You might want to do a test for that too.