smelly tank; please help

[rica5tully]

I have had my tank set up for about a year and a half. It is healthy and happy; the corals are growing, the fish are healthy. I do have a little bit of cyano growing here and there, which I treat with chemi-clean once in awhile.

Problem: all of a sudden in the last couple of weeks it has started stinking. The main tank doesn't seem to smell, but when I open the cabinet the smell is really strong from the sump. Since this tank is in our living room, it's a problem. It's embarassing to even have people over.

The tank is a 72-gallon bowfront and the sump is a 20 gallon. I have a PVC-pipe setup returning water to the sump and I've built a chamber to try to quiet it down. I also have a skimmer and two heaters in the sump.

I've cleaned the skimmer and wiped down the sides of the sump on the inside. But often there is still a terrible stench.

Any suggestions? Thanks. I'm getting tired of it.

 

[Pike614]

Sounds like a snail or fish, or crab or something might have crawled out of the sump, into a crack in your stand or something and dies. Any chance for a critter to be hiding in the stand?

 

[prugs]

You just need to run carbon & lots of it. In a reactor or in a large fine mesh bag near the return pump.

 

[andygb54303]

do you have a fuge with too much chateo? if there is too much and not getting enough light it starts to die and stink. Not to mention releasing nutrients into the water. Not sure f you have a fuge in your sump or not...

 

[hahnmeister]

Perhaps your skimmate has changed recently and is causing more stink. How often do you clean your skimmate collection cup? The more frequent you clean it, the less it will stagnate of course. Fresh skimmate is just seafoam, and smells 'nice'... but let it sit in the pot for a couple days and you get that sewer smell.

Something alot of EU reefers do is put some kalk in the collection cup. The higher pH prevents the smelly bacteria from forming in the cup, which leads to the smell.

Assuming its the skimmer... but that would be the first thing I would look at for a foul stench. Either that, or you might have some area in your tank that has turned anaerobic and is exposed to the air... like a calcium reactor that is clogged or something... then the reactor output can smell like rotten eggs.

 

[TropTrea]

I" have to go along with the skimmer issue. When I wait a week between cleaning out my skimmer in the basement about an hour later my wife asks if something is smelling up from my tanks again. If I clean it out every other day she never mentions it.

Now when I wait 2 weeks from the last cleaning I can smell that skimer as soon as I walk into the house.


Dennis

 

[rica5tully]

Thanks for your help, everyone.

I cleaned my sump and it was INCREDIBLE how filthy it was, with sludge at the bottom and weird sponges growing in the dark. I cleaned the sump, cleaned my skimmer, changed some water and PRESTO- the smell is gone. I guess the sump was worse than I thought.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I really appreciate it.

Eric

 

[klasiksb]

glad to hear all is well