New Tank Smell

[freshjiivetv]

About a week and a half ago I went out and bought the 23 liter fluval edge, added plants (2 bamboo, 2 moss balls and some random floating plant thing in the store) and then added about 12 cherry shrimp. Everything has been going great so far , cherry shrimp are happy, eating and molting as I'd expect (I've even had a pregnant mother release her fry) Yesterday I noticed an odd odor coming from the tank, I'd almost say it smells skunkish. I looked it up online did a quick pH test and noticed it was around 5.5 I quickly did a 20% water change but the odor is still there?
I'm very new to this, I've read over about how tanks need to cycle over the course of a few weeks or month to get good bacteria, but I can't find anything relating to this odor. None of the plants have died, all of the original shrimp are fine, where could it be coming from?
Thanks for your input!

Andrew

 

[Rivercats]

5.5 ph is very low. Have you tested your tap water? In order to do so you need to put some water in a cup and either aerate it or stir it occasionally over a 24 hour period. When the 24 hours is up do a ph test. Do you know the gh and kh in your tank?

You obviously didn't cycle the tank but have you been checking your ammonia and nitrites daily? With such a low ph your tank can't cycle because when ph drops to 6 or lower beneficial bacteria can't grow.

Carbon in the filter can help remove smell but a healthy tank doesn't smell bad.

 

[freshjiivetv]

Hey there thanks for the reply
I just did another test , after doing a 20 % water change yesterday i had the pH ar atound 6.5 and now it's dropped back to 5.5 over night. I set some tap water aside to test that as you suggested which I will test tomorrow. At this time I don't have the tests for GH and KH but I just did a nitrate test as well and it was around 20 mg/L.
Should I do another water change?

 

[Rivercats]

I suggest doing a 50% WC now and if the smell persists perhaps another one tomorrow. Test your tap water and if it has a low ph you may have to use crushed coral in your filter or begin using a product such as Seachem Equilibrium for planted tanks. I also suggest getting an API Gh and Kh test kit. It has two kits in the box, one for Gh and one for Kh.

 

[freshjiivetv]

Thanks for the reply! I'll do the WC today and let you know how it goes.

 

[freshjiivetv]

So an update.. I did a 50% water change about 6 hours ago, PH is 6.5 and smell is still there. Checked the filters gave the foam and activated carbon a quick rinse and smell is still there. Wondering if it's possibly the malaysian driftwood I have?