Slightly smelly water

[Missy19]

4 days ago we added our first fish to our 3-week old 14g Biocube - 2 clowns and 1 sixline wrasse. We had an algae bloom which seems like we are getting under control with the addition of chemi pure. If you get close to the water it has an odd odor. Water check indicates o ammonia, 20 nitrates, .5 nitrites 7.8 pH and 180 alkalinity. I did a 2 gallon water change on Monday. Could it be the food we are feeding our fish and coral? Or is it something else? Any tips are greatly appreciated!

 

[Masoniac]

4 days ago we added our first fish to our 3-week old 14g Biocube - 2 clowns and 1 sixline wrasse. We had an algae bloom which seems like we are getting under control with the addition of chemi pure. If you get close to the water it has an odd odor. Water check indicates o ammonia, 20 nitrates, .5 nitrites 7.8 pH and 180 alkalinity. I did a 2 gallon water change on Monday. Could it be the food we are feeding our fish and coral? Or is it something else? Any tips are greatly appreciated!

It could be the fish waste I would make a slightly bigger water change. I'm not a big expert.

 

[Jacobsal91]

For a 14g thats a lot of fish. That can definatly be a cause. Do larger water changes and get more well cured live
Rock

 

[bigben2057]

Yeah thats alot of fish for a 14g the clowns and wrasse will prob end up fighting. You also added everything at once in a barley cycled tank which was not a good idea it watch out for nitrite and ammonia spikes in the coming days. Smell may be methane in the sand bed or from the tank being overstocked.

 

[Missy19]

Our tank actually cycled pretty quickly - we used live rock, live sand and live water. After two weeks our levels were perfect. I'm going to go with the larger water change and see what happens.

 

[bigben2057]

Our tank actually cycled pretty quickly - we used live rock, live sand and live water. After two weeks our levels were perfect. I'm going to go with the larger water change and see what happens.

Good luck. Also their is no such thing as live water bacteria really doesn't colonize in the water. You added 3 fish to a small tank all at once im sure you will have spikes in the coming weeks just be ready you suposed to wait after adding a single fish when first starting a new tank.

 

[Chirp]

You can stick some carbon in your aquarium to get rid of the smell.

Also algae/diatom growth in a new aquarium is common.

 

[reefrunner69]

Is the smell new? LR smells, so does LS usually you don't smell it in the water, unless it's uncared and your experiencing die off.

 

[Mario424]

I would recommend doing the same 2 gallon water change. Just try and do it weekly and, your nitrates will go down too 0. Also nitrites are caused by too much nutrients in the water so, maybe cut back on feeding