Tank Smells a Little Fishy

[LeanneP]

I have noticed off and on that I can smell my tank a little when I walk into the room. I have a 90 gallon that I do a 15 gallon w/c every week and I clean everything quite regularly. One thing I don't do is clean the detritus off the rocks very often so I was wondering if that is why I am getting a bit of a smell. Will running carbon take the smell away?

Leanne

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by LeanneP

I have noticed off and on that I can smell my tank a little when I walk into the room. I have a 90 gallon that I do a 15 gallon w/c every week and I clean everything quite regularly. One thing I don't do is clean the detritus off the rocks very often so I was wondering if that is why I am getting a bit of a smell. Will running carbon take the smell away?

Leanne

As I was reading the lines, I was thinking of writing a question but you answered it in the last line already No carbon = yes smell. And the strength depends on the water volume and bioload ratio. And the holes at the top of the skimmer cup adds some spices to it too.

[11purewater]

Also check the temp.might be a little high.

[Rogue951]

If u feed frozen foods that really has a punch too

[gregzz4]

Can also be airflow in the house, but I'll agree that carbon is helpful

I find my office, where my sump is, has a strong salty smell until I air the room out

[LeanneP]

Temp is stable as I have a controller and chiller. I do feed frozen food and maybe I am feeding too heavy. I stopped using carbon as I found my corals didn't seem to like it too much, but I guess I will try it again. Anyone know if not getting the detritus off the rocks would make it smell. I am just lazy and my blenny likes all the algae.

Leanne

[gregzz4]

I gotta say it's probably the lack of carbon use
It removes all kinds of organics

Carbon is used in lots of air quality filters

Go back to using it in the proper amount and you probably will find the smell goes away

[gregzz4]

You say you stopped using carbon due to your corals ...

Is it possible you were using too much, or your method was allowing it to get into your DT ?
Carbon getting past your method can cause all kinds of issues in your tank
Just trying to help

Check out the BRS calculator thingy for how much to use ...

Select the Carbon Calculator, enter your water volume, select your kind of carbon and click 'Calculate'

Keep in mind one thing ....

I have a 75g with a 50g sump (total 125g potential water), but I only have 110g of total water in my system

Keep this in mind when you calculate your system volume

[Myka]

Originally Posted by LeanneP

Will running carbon take the smell away?

Yes. I even use an open bowl of dry carbon in my fish room to pull the "aquarium smell" out. It works very well.

You don't have to use carbon 24/7 in your aquarium though; there are pros and cons to that. I don't really follow a carbon schedule for my reefs, but I probably average one week every month or so that I will run some in a bag that I shove down between the baffle in my sump. I just keep a bag of it sitting on top of the sump and put it in between the baffles to run it for a day or two, then set it back up on the sump to dry again. Once it is dry I store it in a food container so it doesn't absorb "stuff" out of the air while it is waiting for its next use. I keep a log of tank parameters and record how many days of use the carbon has on it and what day it was changed out. I've found the amount and type of carbon I use lasts for about 30 days of use.

[LeanneP]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess back to using carbon it is!