bad smell

[CHINABOY1021]

im going to make the long story short. basically during my fishless cycle, my water started to smell. i decided to start the cycle over.

my question is how do i get rid of this bad smell? it's quite strong. also i've rinsed and rinsed, but it wont go away with just water.

i've completely cleaned off the filter so there's no more bacteria, good nor bad. can i just leave a little smell in the filter? or will it break out when i start over?

 

[wetmanNY]

Water changes won't start the cycle over. So do plenty, with dechloraminated water. More oxygen is required for nitrification. So drop the water level and get more splash from the return. And don't use so much ammonia that you test >5ppm.

 

[allwet]

hi chinaboy.i've fishless cycled four tanks and luckily my water hasnt smelled.is it perhaps your hood that is smelling? take some water out of your tank and put it in a glass and then see if you can smell it.i wouldnt clean the filter if i were you.do you have live plants in the tank? good luck.allwet.......

 

[blade929]

do you have any drift/bogwood in your tank this can sometimes give the tank an unpleasant odour

 

[cpr4cpu]

as can the very bacteria that make our tanks happy.
Filters are a great source of stink too. Especially filters like a Penguin might need a new cartridge.

The smell is often a by product of evaporation, ever notice that it's worse in the warmer weather? Give your substrate a good thorough cleaning, get the python down deep to get as much of the dead crap as you can, that's likely the biggest part of the smell

 

[Sumpin'fishy]

I can't believe nobody has said carbon, yet! I don't know if you've added some fresh carbon or a new filter bag with carbon in it, but if not ....DO IT! This is one of the few useful reasons to use carbon. I save mine for times like this. Carbon is great for cleaning up colors and odors from water, along with removing chemicals and such. Try a nice, large, fresh batch of carbon! Regular thorough cleaning is also a big factor, but I can't see how your tank is too dirty yet, since you are still cycling it!

 

[Aderynglas]

When my 10g was cycling it did pong a bit (fishless cycle) but a few water changes sorted it, in fact I knew it was finished cycling because it stopped getting pongy a couple of water tests confirmed it

But there's a big difference between cycled and settled, its now going through an algae cycle. My last tank did this and has now settled, but I thought it never would. I never had this when I first started 20 years ago

Regards
Polly - showing her age a bit ;





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[Matak]

What kind of stink is it? Is it a chemically type smell, or a funky, swampy kind of smell? Or something else?

Aderynglas: Pongy?

 

[Kirin Fang]

Originally posted by Matak
What kind of stink is it? Is it a chemically type smell, or a funky, swampy kind of smell? Or something else?

Yeah, that's what I was gonna ask.

 

[CHINABOY1021]

swamp smell. smells like really dirty water. sewage like.