pee

sharpie

sharpie

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Feb 2, 2006
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i came home and i went over to my tank.(no fish or plants).and it smells like straight cat pee. i dont have inside cats and i didnt bring the tank outside to clean it. it has only been set up for a few days, but when i was setting up my other tanks they didnt smell like this. the water just smells like hard core ammonia. i drove down to pets mart and bought a new carbon pad for my filter. it is a 30g tank and i have one 30g filter with a sponge a and carbon. and i have a 20g filter with two sponges. i havnt added any chemicles to the tank except "aqua pluss tap water conditioner" but i add that to all my tanks and they dont smaell like that....someone please help!!!!! :help: ....
thanks so much-
(ps-none of my tanks have ever smelled like this. could it be the black colored rocks that are in there??before i put them in there i rinced them out many many time with water)
 
Ammonia is the first of the nitrogen wastes to begin accumulating in an new aquarium. Soon, bacteria will begin converting it into nitrite and then into nitrate.

Do a test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and see if that indicates a problem.

I'd probably do an immediate 50% water change if I smelled ammonia that strong.

Edit: since this is a new tank, you are going through the cycling process. It is normal and won't stay like that.
 
how come it never happened with my other tanks? could fish live in this??or would it kill them? :help:
 
What exactly is a 30 gallon filter and 20 gallon filter? I find it odd to state that you have a specific filter for a specific volume of water in an aquarium.
 
have you added ammonia to the tank to do a fishless cycle?
 
how are you cycling your tank, are you adding anything to it? Where did you get the black stones from? When you set up this tank, did you just add water, new filter pads and all that as brand new, meaning did you use anything fromm your established tanks?
No, the fish cannot survive in a tank that is overcome with ammonia as it sounds but how did the ammonia get there?
 
no i didnt add ammonia to the tank to do a fish less cycle. im not really doing any cycle. i got the rocks from pets mart. i bought a 25 pound bag and a 10lb bag. i just cleaned the rocks really good. spread them out over the bottom of the tank. filled the tank up with water. turned on the filters(after they were cleaned) added the aqua plus. added a fake plant..(after a rinsed it with hot water..and then thats it....whats going on here?

well-they are not bio wheel filters. they are just tera whisper filters..(dont know if that helps?)

and i havnt added any fish yet i was just going to let the tank sit for a while

would adding the carbon to the filter help out?
 
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"aqua pluss tap water conditioner"

My prime smells very similar to when my tanks go through ammonia spikes(caused by little brother fedding the fish... cans of fish food!!!). the bottle says sulphur smell is normal. If your water conditioner says something similar than this could be a possible cause, however it would be a good idea to test for amonia before asuming it's the conditioner.
 
Just asking, but how much time and effort are you willing to invest right now in getting the tank running right? If you lack considerable experience and knowledge of setting up and running a fish tank, it would take me several pages to explain it all to you. I'd do a few forum searches first if I were you. You'd do well to hold off adding fish right now until the tank has cycled. IMO
 
I have a hard time believing nothing was added to the tank yet there is a strong smell of ammonia. You should get a test kit, read up on the cycling sticky, do some searches as Slappy suggests and please post back with your findings. I'd love to know the cause of it too.
 
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