Okay so my tank has been cycling for 3 weeks with a Damsel, 3 zebra crabs, 3 ghost shrimp (Now 2), and a Chocolate chip starfish added a few days ago. Now my question is can I added any more fish in my 10G? And also the smell is almost unbearable. Is there anything to fix it? My Params are fine, and nothing is dead so Idk what it could be... Its stinking up the whole room and if I dont fix it, it has to go.
Saltwater Help/Opinions
- Thread starter lMorphine
- Start date
First of all, you should NEVER cycle a tank with live animals. That is cruel and completely unnecessary. It's basically torture, and if you care about your pets, you wouldn't put them through that. Secondly, how much live rock is in your tank? Uncured live rock can smell really bad, bad enough to stink up an entire house pretty much. If you pick up each piece of live rock and smell it, you will know right away if it isn't cured. This would also mean your tank isn't finished cycling. Die off on the rock will be releasing ammonia into the water constantly. To answer your question about adding more fish - definitely not right now, you shouldn't have any animals in there to begin with. Plus, 10 gallons is tiny, so other than a small goby, you don't have very many options. The damsel you have in there now is probably going to be very territorial and aggressive to any newcomers, especially if it's already stressed and suffering from a cycling tank.
I cycled the tank before I added the Damsel and Starfish for 2 weeks with 8 lbs of LR, 20 lbs of Aragonite sand. and Its cured because the rock doesnt smell. The salt gets everywhere. It builds up on the filter, the cover, everything.. and the damsel hides, hes very timid.
what kind of flow do you have in there? any type of powerhead? You should have quite a bit of water movement for your rock and fish. Damsels are usually not shy, so i'm guessing yours is stressed, but there are always exceptions i suppose. Is he eating okay? The salt shouldn't be getting everywhere unless there is some sort of splashing or bubbles popping. Are you using an airstone or hang on back filter? Those are best in freshwater tanks. I don't know what else could smell so bad, besides uncured rock or something dead in the tank. I can only smell my tank if i stick my nose almost in the water, and it smells very fresh - like the ocean.
No powerhead but the filter makes a large movement and I have an airpump and an airstone, and the damsel eats fine - i throw it in and he swims but he'll only eat large peices of flakes not broken up ones. Everything is alive and the rock is fine so idk.. Its bad though
Something must be dead. Thats the only thing I can think of, from what you described, that would give off that kind of almost unbearable smell.
You said none of your livestock died yet...is it possible you may have had some hitchhikers in the live rock? Ive heard of people getting some epic hitchhikers in their live rock.
You said none of your livestock died yet...is it possible you may have had some hitchhikers in the live rock? Ive heard of people getting some epic hitchhikers in their live rock.
My LR has no open pores, its more like solid LR. So nothing can be dead inside, and theres nothing dead on the top or bottom of the tank. I honestly cant figure it out and like I can put my head into the tank right by the water and not smell anything but if you just walk into the room, you just smell fish and salt. Would a hood help? Water changes? Im at a loss.
and Params are:
SG: 1.021
PH: 8.2
Nitrates: Less than 25 ppm
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
and Params are:
SG: 1.021
PH: 8.2
Nitrates: Less than 25 ppm
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
My new tank has been sitting almost a month cycling (still no fish) and it smells great! Just like the ocean! I'd say if you have a bad smell, something is definately wrong. Do you have an HOB filter? What are the water params? How did you know the tank was cycled?
Ideally, live rock should be very porous and not too heavy. If it's truly solid, it's not live rock and is providing no benefit to your tank. Water should be able to move through it, and creatures should be able to crawl into it. You should replace your airstone with a powerhead. The bubbles popping is why you have salt everywhere. Again, it shouldn't smell bad at all, unless something is decaying or very wrong with the water. This is why people need to research and research some more before setting up a saltwater tank. A 10 gal tank with a hang on back filter and an airstone should be set up for freshwater fish, not marine.
