Strong smell

[cudie]

Newbie, first real tank.
-35 gallon

Noticed some blue/green algae creeping across gravel. Was told to take out everything and soak in a tiny bit of bleach, fake plants/deco/gravel. Rinse extremely well.
Did that. Emptied tank about 80%, scrubbed everything.
Re-assemble. Clean filter. Used conditioner (not enough maybe? ((See pic of test)). Anyways once ready fish went back in.
Maybe a week later noticed earthy/musty smell. Then became noticeable when walking into my apartment, tank on the opposite side of the room. Not sure if there's still blue/green algae causing it to be so strong, or if its because everything is clean?
Also changed the hood to a flat glass top.

Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Calikenny]

Sorry I read that wrong. Do you have an Ammonia reading?

 

[cudie]

Sorry I read that wrong. Do you have an Ammonia reading?

No, I did not get an ammonia test, was an after thought.
I read that ammonia can be reflected in the nitrite levels?
Ill leave it be for a bit, give it time to cycle more.
Thanks for your help so far!

 

[Calikenny]

No, I did not get an ammonia test, was an after thought.
I read that ammonia can be reflected in the nitrite levels?
Ill leave it be for a bit, give it time to cycle more.
Thanks for your help so far!

I recommend an ammonia test. If it's high you may need to do a water change.

The problem is, you most likely wiped out your bacteria cleaning it like you did. I would not recommend you do that to your tank. Your substrate and filter house a good portion of your bacteria. Let's start from ground zero and get the ammonia levels measured.

 

[cudie]

Here is my ammonia test!

 

[Calikenny]

I would keep an eye on the parameters. As for the smell? I really don't know. Tanks have an aroma to them. Maybe someone else can steer you in the right direction. How long has your tank been re-assembled? I am curious what your tap water measures in Nitrates.

 

[cudie]

Well ill be sure to let you know of any changes, cause I don't know, learning lol. It was just weird, it never used to notice it until now.
3 days. Maybe just needs more time to get back to where it should be, then will go away?
You had me curious about that too.

 

[Calikenny]

I would keep testing the parameters daily. Keep us posted..

 

[Mother of fish]

Put a bag of activated carbon in the filter to help with smell. As said keep testing the water.

 

[Autumnsky]

Also check around the rim of the tank and under the rim where you feed, sometimes the food gets in the rim and gets musty/ moldy. Just use a paper towel and wipe it to check and remove if it is there.

Carbon is a good thought.

Just run it for a week - 10 days and see how it smells. That takes care of the result of what the smell might be but not necessarily the cause of the odor.

A tank will possibly smell earthy like being in a moist forest (but healthy earth like odor). Blue green algae also has an odor different, not sure how to describe, might find that on the internet.