Smelly water

[Mcgolg76]

All the sudden my water has started to smell really bad. Ammonia and nitrites are zero and nitrate around 20. Tank is planted with Sand substrate and has been running for 2 mos. Water is not cloudy. Wish I could describe the smell better then just really bad. Fish are acting fine. Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[Masha]

Does it smell like bad egg?

 

[Ronnie05]

Replace or start using carbon smell will go away.Have you made sure there are no dead fish floating or stuck in plants or decoration?

 

[Mcgolg76]

Don't use carbon cause of live plants. All fish are accounted for. Have a recent algae out break. So maybe that could be problem. Lowered my light timer to 7 hours a day

 

[Coyne]

I'm not aware of there being a problem with using carbon filtration while keeping live plants.

If it smells a bit like rotting vegetation, then it may be algae (or dead plant) related.