10gal tank smells

[eric faatz]

hi,

i recently had a odor coming from my fw tank.come to fined out my son over fed the fish by mistake.there was food all over the bottom of the tank.i tried to vaccum it up but just to much.so i took out the fish and cleaned the whole tank.waited till the next day and tested the water everything came back good.i have 3 angle fish,1shark,smell is back aweek later.water is clear,fish are fine to.tested water again all is good.i'm stumped.any help would be great thank you.

 

[jimv8673]

odor

what kind of odor, like a skunk, or more like an earthy fishy smell ???
at any rate, odors can come from many sources from normal fish tank odor to a sulfur smell, to really rank, like dead fish. If its just normal fish tank odor, you could control a lot of that by using carbon in your filters, based on how they are set up. then replace the carbon every month or so.

 

[Viper]

hi,

i recently had a odor coming from my fw tank.come to fined out my son over fed the fish by mistake.there was food all over the bottom of the tank.i tried to vaccum it up but just to much.so i took out the fish and cleaned the whole tank.waited till the next day and tested the water everything came back good.i have 3 angle fish,1shark,smell is back aweek later.water is clear,fish are fine to.tested water again all is good.i'm stumped.any help would be great thank you.

Do you have activated carbon in your filter? That can help eliminate most of the smell. Has your son overfed them again without you knowing? Also, this might be a silly question, but is there a lid on your tank?

EDIT: Jim posted a couple seconds before I did so sorry about the double question regarding carbon.

P.S. - I hope it wasn't Christian (was talking with him in the chat room), he seemed so knowledgeable at such a young age, I wouldn't think he would overfeed

 

[PaulieFish]

Not hi-jacking the thread but would an old carbon insert cause a smell, because my tank is having the same problem. And talking about the activated carbon, I was wondering if I needed to possibly replace mine!

 

[Viper]

Not hi-jacking the thread but would an old carbon insert cause a smell, because my tank is having the same problem. And talking about the activated carbon, I was wondering if I needed to possibly replace mine!

The actual carbon wont be the cause of the smell. When the carbon has reached its capacity, it wont do its job effectively anymore and that smell will become more noticeable. At this point, yes, it is time to replace the carbon! It is generally stated that carbon should be replaced every month.

 

[BigJim]

Fish tanks generally have a kind of earthy smell to them. Carbon can help, but it doesn't last very long.

I really hope you have a bigger tank than a 10g for when those angels and that shark start growing.