View Full Version : Will carbon get rid of the rotten egg smell?
i haven't had this problem in a while, but my canister filter has been broken for some time and i have been relying on a hob filter to clean the water. but i finally got my canister filter fixed today (rena xp3) and after a couple minutes of it filtering, a rotten egg smell started becoming quite pungent (i'm assuming that the water that was in it got bad) but i've already done 2 50% water changes in 2 days and don't want to kill all my fish by doing another water change, so i loaded the hob filter with a lot of ammo-carb. will that get rid of the smell or do i have to keep doing water changes and clean out my canister filter again?
msjinkzd
10-08-2009, 7:37 PM
yes good quality carbon should help.
yes good quality carbon should help.
how long before it starts working? the hob is for a 55 gal tank and my tank is a 75 gal, but it has loads of carbon in it so it should get rid of the smell fairly quickly correct?
msjinkzd
10-08-2009, 7:44 PM
I would think so. I haven't ever experienced this first hand.
I would think so. I haven't ever experienced this first hand.
alright. thanks for your help.
Rallysman
10-08-2009, 7:59 PM
If the filter can't keep up with the ammonia it's going to continue to sink (and hurt the fish).
Rather than loading up on a bunch of carbon it might be cheaper to chuck a couple sponge filters in that are seeded from another tank.
Edit: Nevermind. TL;DR
Give it a day or two and rinse some other filters in the tank and i'lll be ok.
Let's see if I got this right. After a few months of being off but wet you turned back on the Rena. Did you clean out the Rena when you fixed it?
The rotten egg smell is from Hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S). This is a waste product from anaerobic bacteria metabolisms. This is actually dangerous if the concentrations are high enough.
The solution is water changes, increased circulation, addition of an airstone, and CLEANING OUT THE FILTER.
With all of these steps it should clear out in a few hours.
thesixis
10-08-2009, 9:13 PM
anytime a filter goes more then 12 hrs without working it is best to dump all media to avoid the formation of H2S (which is deadly).
Water changes are the best bet, imho
Ya, I wasn't thinking. Quite honestly, I don't know how the rena got fixed, I just turned it on and it was working suddenly. I didn't clean it out because I didn't do anything to fix it. I probably should have turned it off right away. The smell has lessened, but is still somewhat there when I smell the water. I will do another water change and clean the filter this weekend. Oh! And the water cleared up! It was cloudy, but is almost crystal clear now.
Water changes wont harm your fish. Hydrogen sulphide will, so it's your choice.
Activated carbon may help, but i'm not sure it it's one of the chemicals it absorbs.
Just keep changing the water, I've done 90% changes when moving tanks, guess what, no fish died.
For future reference, if a filter stops for any reason, open it up and take the media out. You can put this in a nylon mesh bag or similar and drop it back in the tank. Then it will still get some fresh water and oxygen, and some of the cycle bacteria will stay alive. Then when you fix the filter or get a new one you will still have some usefull media to put back in, rather than the toxic waste you got.
Ian
RodInCALIFORNIA
10-09-2009, 3:21 AM
i wouldnt "wait" till the weekend to clean the filter take 20 minutes and do it now. and there has to be a reason it stopped working they dont just "get fixed". check the impellar and clean it your filter must be a disaster inside from just sitting and all it is doing is just adding toxins to your water as long as you keep it running without cleaning it.
i wouldnt "wait" till the weekend to clean the filter take 20 minutes and do it now. and there has to be a reason it stopped working they dont just "get fixed". check the impellar and clean it your filter must be a disaster inside from just sitting and all it is doing is just adding toxins to your water as long as you keep it running without cleaning it.
Certainly true, but most of the crud in the filter has now been washed out into the tank, hence the stinky water and advice to keep changing that water.
But for sure clean out the filter ASAP and let it re-cycle.
Ian
RDTigger
10-09-2009, 6:20 AM
WC will help..
Possibly Purigen or an absorbent resin might help.
SubRosa
10-09-2009, 7:40 AM
Carbon will absolutely absorb H2S. Aeration or a small dose of hydrogen peroxide will also help oxidize the sulfides into sulfates that don't stink. And as stated previously water changes are always a good thing.
My aquarium has a faint garlic smell because I use it in my snail jello and homemade PoP feeding blocks.
LOL... If only I kept Tilapia - that could be quite revolutionary... pre-Garlic marinated Tilapia... :)
jmhart
10-09-2009, 9:52 AM
My aquarium has a faint garlic smell because I use it in my snail jello and homemade PoP feeding blocks.
LOL... If only I kept Tilapia - that could be quite revolutionary... pre-Garlic marinated Tilapia... :)
:clap: I like it
jmhart
10-09-2009, 9:54 AM
Let's see if I got this right. After a few months of being off but wet you turned back on the Rena. Did you clean out the Rena when you fixed it?
The rotten egg smell is from Hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S). This is a waste product from anaerobic bacteria metabolisms. This is actually dangerous if the concentrations are high enough.
The solution is water changes, increased circulation, addition of an airstone, and CLEANING OUT THE FILTER.
With all of these steps it should clear out in a few hours.
The V is dead on here.
As far as cleaning it out, if it's been running for a day or two...well, any harm is done. It wouldn't hurt to clean it out, but it's not a huge issue at this point.
It sounds like you may have had a gunked up impeller or something, and after months of being off, the stuff just rotted away.
ok. thanks everyone. i cleaned out my filter and loaded it with ammo-carb just to be safe. and i did 3 50% water changes today. i have just one last question:
i bought this stuff from petco called "filter fiber" and i have been using it in my tanks by wrapping it around my ammo-carb. it seems that it works quite well as a type of filter media and i was just curious if it truly can be used as filter media or if it was just the carbon keeping the water clean?
RodInCALIFORNIA
10-09-2009, 8:14 PM
yes filter fiber is a great filter material i buy it at walmart in huge bags in the sewing dept. its super cheap it's the same thing you buy at the pet store but cost's alot less. they have 2 kinds just dont buy the flame retardant kind its saves flame retardent on the bag and the bags are different colors.
Jspigs
10-10-2009, 11:33 AM
I am guessing by the name that the ammo carb removes ammonia. If this is true then you are starving your bio-filter. I would recommend using regular activated carbon which won't remove ammonia and therefor won't starve your bio-filter. I believe that ammo carb is a mix of carbon and something else to remove ammonia, if you use just carbon then it might even be more effective than the ammo carb because there will be more carbon in the same amount of media than there is with the ammo carb;).