Horrendous smell from Tank area.

[travis32]

O.k. Well, this is a weird one and I don't know where it belongs. I'll start here. But, I don't know what to do about this. I had something in my sump overflow, or my ATO pump hose fell out of the sump or something, I remedied the "leak" and have no additional issues with water loss.

However, my stand for my 125g tank, is on a 6.5 foot long piece of plywood. Under the plywood is carpet, padding, then base floor (wood).

IT's a steal stand, with four legs on the plywood to make sure no damage is done to the sub floor.

Well, there's a flaw with this design... It appears that the carpet under the plywood got wet and retained some moisture. As it dries.. It apparently is starting to reek. (I can't confirm if it's drying underneith or not)...

Short of tearing the tank down and drying the carpet underneith... Well, Is there anything else I can do to limit any harmful damage from mold / mildew?

Would doing some type of bleech mixture around the tank stand help or baking soda? I"m trying baking soda now. It seems to be drawing the moisture up out of the carpet somewhat, but, I don't know what else to try? I love the hobby, I just can't put my own health at risk (Black mold??) because of it.

Any suggestions are welcome, I'm kinda at a loss of any viable options.

 

[oceanicsquire]

maybe baking soda around the edges. you stopped the leak though right?

 

[dkerns06]

Just point a fan at it for a few days. That's what I did when I had a 20+ gallon leak in my apt the one days and it never started to smell.

 

[peppie]

You could rent a dehumidifer (sp) and put a fan on it. P dont think I would go the bleach route.

 

[mike_cmu04]

A fan will dry it out and the smell will go away.

 

[blue736]

+1 for a fan

 

[AGYDAL]

Fans, fans and more fans...get a case (or three) of good beer and tell your friends that they can come help you drink it...if they bring a fan you can borrow.

What type of smell is it?

How much water do you estimate was "leaked"

When you say base floor...what do you mean? Are you on a slab or a crawlspace? Have you checked the crawlspace for standing water/moisture or tried to get some air circulation going under there?

Could you drill some random .5"-1" holes "swiss cheese style" into the plywood your tank is sitting on to see if the floor is wet or molding under the tank?

Might want to look into some sort of water proofing (pond liner or that basement wall paint stuff) to keep this from happening again once you remedy the odor.

Good luck, never had this happen to me as you can tell by my questions or my idea of the fan party haha! **begins muttering in a guilty tone**

 

[ginger7286]

yep, fans and maybe some "damp rid" you can get that anywhere, walmart, kmart, walgreens etc

 

[Algaenot]

+1 on the damp rid and fans. I'm sure a dehumidifier would help as well. Here in Colorado the air is so dry everything drys very quickly.

 

[davocean]

You can rent what is called a turbo fan.
It's what they use in flood damage situations, and has a blower w/ a wide vent made to blow directly at carpet base.
It may take a while to dissipate since really you do need to pull up carpet and dry the padding/subfloor, but it's probably your best option w/out tearing tank apart.

 

[hollister]

If the carpet under the tank got wet then what u smell is bacteria. Stronger the smell the more bacteria.
A fan in the area will help but may take awile .