Smelly tank

[Coralgurl]

Testing now, will post results. Dt is open, no cover.

[Casey8]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Seems like it's coming from the display tank, sump isn't that bad. I moved one of the power heads down a few inches to try to move more flow over the sand and I'm seeing more solids floating around, had to look closely to make sure it wasn't bubbles.

Mentioning a dead snail, I added 20 sand snails but haven't seen a single one come out....could they be causing this if they are dead??

It happened to me before, it took me a couple days before I found a couple of dead snails causing that kind of smell. If it smells like something rotten, I doubt very much they are the culprit.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

I did a water change last weekend and tried to get out as much crap out of the sump as I could, but my vacuum kept clogging up (it attaches to the sink and sucks

I'd do some more asking questions on this as many reefers recommend staying away from the sand bed if it's shallow. You'll only stir up stuff that you shouldn't, causing issues. Better to leave it alone and let your 'guys' keep it stirred up. Plus you're sucking up 'dudes'
Now, this may not always be the case during a new tank cycling issue, but as far as I can tell ( and coming from freshwater vacumming every week ) it's better to not 'sand' clean.
Unless you have some huge issue that requires you to do it, I'd say stop doing it.

[Coralgurl]

Test results
Ammonia 0-.25 it's in between the 2 colors
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.5
Phosphates 0

No no, not vacuuming sand bed, just the gunk out of the sump. Trying to get the powerhead to move it around a bit but I'm not touching the sand.

I added 25 new snails and transferred about 5 out of my smaller tank, plus a couple of hermits, the 20 sand snails and last night a sand starfish. If I need a bigger cuc, I can add. I didn't use live sand but added a cup of sand out of my 55 to seed it, did this as soon as the tank was salty.

[gregzz4]

Your readings show you should monitor you tank closely for awhile due to the ammo. This may be your smell. Whole bunch of speculation here, but you could have a bunch of die off that is causing it.
What size tank is it that you added all those guys to? Sorry if I missed it.

[Coralgurl]

It's a 180 dt with an 80 gl sump. Should I dig around for the snails?

[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!