water small

[Ron Reefman]

I just moved 75g of water, some LR, a few fish, a few simple corals ans some inverts from a friend's 90g tank to a 55g tank and 50g sump I own. My tank, sump, HOB filter, HOB skimmer, chiller and light have all been in my 'reef room' (a spare bedroom my wife has allowed me to turn into what might be known as a 'man cave') for a couple of months with no smell. The transfer took place late in the afternoon. The next morning we noticed a fait smell like cat uren? But we couldn't isolate the location. We had just had our cat put down last week due to cancer and we assumed he may have done it on a throw rug or 1 of 2 chairs he would occasionaly nap on. We took the chairs outside and my wife cleaned and disinfected them and we let the S Florida sun do the UV thing for several hours. I took the large throw rug out and put in in the washing machine. I also took a strong bleach and water solution and scrubbed the tile floor, especially making sure the grout soaked in some (the tile floor is only 6 months old). After the floor was dry and nothing else was moved back in the room, we tracked the smell to the water in the aquarium and sump! It isn't real strong, but it sure smells like cat pee.

The guy who owns the water, LR & critters has no idea. But he lives in an older home that is going to be tented for termite extermination. Which is why I have all this stuff. He doesn't use RO/DI water. He uses tap water run thru some kind of water filter and then adds a declorinator.

Any ideas? I've been running a Next Reef reactor with AC for a few hours now, but the water still smells. I may have to just try several big water changes... but I really don't want to. :debi:

 

[aleonn]

It could be the skimmate? Or some water that spilled when you were moving the tank in. Or possibly, a turbo snail or some other livestock died in the tank (might want to check for ammonia).

Before running water changes, try running carbon. And get a package of baking soda to put in the room to minimize the odors.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The HOB skimmer skimate smells better than the water! No spilled water as the tile floor was washed with bleach and water this morning. You could eat off the tile and it doesn't smell at all. We can tell now that the smell is in the water of both the 55g DT and the 50g sump. I've had livestock die before and it doesn't smell even close to that. I did check the ammonia level (my wife suggested I should) and it came up zero. There is about 50lbs of LR. As I said in my first post, I am running carbon in a reactor! It's been 5 hours now and it still smells. But the baking soda suggestion is a good idea.

 

[bertoni]

I'd test for ammonia now and then, and run a bunch of fresh carbon. Hmm, somebody already said that.

I would repeat the ammonia test maybe once a day for a bit. I'm not sure what the smell is, but I suspect some organism died or something got dumped into the water column.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks Jonathan... yes, there is carbon running in both the reactor and the HOB filter. There are only 5 fish, but 2 of them are quite small so I'll have to go looking for them. Both the shrimp are alive. The corals are looking OK so I'm guessing whatever it is, it can't be too bad. And although it still smells this morning, it isn't so strong that it permeates the whole house, just the room where the tank is. But it's strong enough that if you go in the room, you'd probably start looking for the cat litter box... but it's never been in that room!

My friend bought two 35g square containers (like rubbermaid only bigger and I don't know the brand) that we moved some of the water and LR in. We also used my 2 Brute trash cans. I don't smell anything in them now, but they have all been rinsed out with fresh water after the move. Could something have leached into the water in just a handful of hours?

I'll do a full set of water tests, it's time to test my water too, so I'll post the results later.

 

[bertoni]

I don't know what could have leached into the water that would smell like that.

 

[aleonn]

I'm stumped as well. I can only think of a fish that jumped out the tank (and got into a hidden crevice) and is rotting.