How To Deal With A Smelly Tank?

I had from my previous post dealt with an ammonia issue thanks to my being oblivious and not mixing the two testing bottles. Someone, or more than 1 actually; suggested I should be using Prime.

I got Prime last night and double dosed my tank. I smell booty like nobodies business now. I googled farty fish tank and found Prime's de-chlorinating component contains sulfur and is making my house stink like farty farts.

How to deal with this? I think I might be doing another water change and may need to add more. If I do I may throw up. What to do?

 

Prime will produce a smelly offgass, I just ignore mine apparently but it does smell near the tanks that got a water change. I would fan out the area where it smells, but you shouldn’t have to change the water again unless there’s still some ammonia left.

However, this post really cracked me up

 

You get used to it.

 

A fan. A fart fan for my fish. Honestly about 30 minutes passed of me smelling this stank before I had to ask around if someone pooped or something? Like.. did you fart? No.. okay what about you? Did you fart? No judgement, just investigation. After a few offended "NO!" responses I started suspecting my tank. I was feeling my carpet to make sure a sewage tank wasn't leaking up from underground?? (I have no idea how all that works or if that's even possible) Thanks to google. I found out Prime is Prime farty. Thanks for warning me! I need a fan stat. I have a weak stomach.

 

I kinda like having something around to pin the blame on.
On those rare occasions when I discreetly pass a little noxious gas and my wife complains...
I blame it on my fish tank

 

Dechlorinate the water outside and let it sit for 10 mins before bringing it in. That way some of the smell should waft away.

I kinda like having something around to pin the blame on.
When I discreetly pass a little gas and my wife complains, I blame it on my fish tank

Ha! We do the same with the dog..."Was that you?" "Nah, must have been the dog"

 

Dechlorinate the water outside and let it sit for 10 mins before bringing it in. That way some of the smell should waft away.

You are a darn good person.

 

Switch to a different water conditioner. If you have no elevated ammonia or nitrites pretty much any water conditioner will work. If you do have elevated ammonia or nitrites you can switch to Amquel+ along with NovAqua (they need to be used together if you have elevated ammonia or nitrites) but NovAqua can be used alone if you do not have elevated ammonia or nitrite levels.

 

I guess my sniffer must be broken. I would occasionally get a whiff of sulfur when I was adding prime to my buckets but once mixed with water it went away. I've never smelled it in my tank. It must have something to do with your tap water chemistry compared to mine.

I sure am glad what ever causes it for you dosn't do it for me. I would be like those commercials advertising air fresheners and might find myself running through walls to get away from it.

 

You are a good person.

you are hillarious!!! all your comments have me cry laughing!! please stay in this forum and entertain me hahaha. if you thought prime smells bad, try seachem "safe" now that is a farty mic fart powder.

 

Yeah you get used to it lol. Plus at least for me it goes away pretty quickly after adding it to my water.

 

I have to ask, are you sure you're using the right amount of Prime? I use prime for water changes (just the new water, not the whole tank), and I've never had a sulphur smell off the new water or my tank. The only time I get a smell is if I literally take the cap off the bottle, and take a giant sniff. Mind you, I'm typically only treating 5 gals at a time, and I use the smallest bottle, with the dropper-style cap.

 

I had from my previous post dealt with an ammonia issue thanks to my being oblivious and not mixing the two testing bottles. Someone, or more than 1 actually; suggested I should be using Prime.

I got Prime last night and double dosed my tank. I smell booty like nobodies business now. I googled farty fish tank and found Prime's de-chlorinating component contains sulfur and is making my house stink like farty farts.

How to deal with this? I think I might be doing another water change and may need to add more. If I do I may throw up. What to do?

Don't discount that you may be overdosing your water! I was shocked at how little seachem prime it takes to dechlorinate water. I was using API products before, and to dechlorinate a gallon of water with Seachem it takes about 1 or 2 eyedropper drops. That really shouldn't be enough for you to smell something bad out of your tank, even if it's really big!

 

Do you have a lot of surface movement? If not add an air stone or a sponge filter, it sounds like you're water is getting stagnant.

 

Don't even notice it in water unless put in last and it floats on the top.
If you notice it that much maybe some spilled or the bottles leaking/ not sealed

 

Did you get some on your finger and scratch your nose?

 

tbh I kind of like the smell of prime, haha

 

With Prime I use 2 drops per gallon of water.
I don't notice the smell from the tank, only the bottle.

Don't vacuum your gravel for several months: that'll give you a nostril burning, eyes rolling back in your head fart smell that you don't want.

 

I'm highly entertained with this thread lol. I've never used Prime and now I'm hoping that I don't have to

 

I have to ask, are you sure you're using the right amount of Prime? I use prime for water changes (just the new water, not the whole tank), and I've never had a sulphur smell off the new water or my tank. The only time I get a smell is if I literally take the cap off the bottle, and take a giant sniff. Mind you, I'm typically only treating 5 gals at a time, and I use the smallest bottle, with the dropper-style cap.

I have to agree. Maybe you're over dosing the Prime. Shake the bottle too, it helps with the smell.

 

I have gotten used to the smell. I swear, Flourish is just bottled soy sauce (that smells worse). Seachem likes watching us gag at the smell of their additives

 

It's been said and rightly so...
"Oftentimes the smeller is the feller"

 

you are hillarious!!! all your comments have me cry laughing!! please stay in this forum and entertain me hahaha. if you thought prime smells bad, try seachem "safe" now that is a farty mic fart powder.

Yeah safe is way stronger smelling but it's so much more economical to use.

 

I'm kind of on the fence about this. Prime by itself doesn't smell good but I've never noticed the smell once it has been added to the water and the aquarium.

Are you sure you don't have some sort of anaerobic conditions in the substrate?? Do/did you use a gravel vac?

 

I don't smel safe once added to tank water and its a way stronger smell then prime. very good point.... I would have to agree something else could be the cause

 

I add 1/4 capful per 5 gallon bucket. I smell sulfur when I “throw” the 1/4 capful 2 feet down into the bucket.

When the bucket is full, I carry it 25 feet to the tank and have never smelled sulfur.

So, either you are significantly overdosing or your fart detector is ultra sensitive.

 

My boyfriend Has asked me several times what I am laughing at while reading the forum. This is what you call "on the floor going to pee myself" laughing.

How much prime are you using? are you shaking the bottle before use? Are you sure it isn't expired?

 

I'm kind of on the fence about this. Prime by itself doesn't smell good but I've never noticed the smell once it has been added to the water and the aquarium.

Are you sure you don't have some sort of anaerobic conditions in the substrate?? Do/did you use a gravel vac?

Now see Prime smells much worse to me once it has been added to the water. It has a much stronger sulfer smell. I suspect that the difference in scent may be due to the level of chlorine, chloramine in the water. There is quite a bit in my water, so more to de-toxify.

 

Yes. I know when I fill my bucket with clean water, if the chlorine burns my eyes, the sulfur smell is going to be worse. But once it’s in the bucket and stirred around, the smell if gone. I can’t help but think there’s either something in the water reacting to the prime or it’s way overdosed. Or, someone in the room is not owning up. Just my two cents.

 

I was answering another post and it hit me - how are the nitrite and nitrate levels in your tank? Prime supposedly converts the nitrite family into a gaseous form, and it itself is sulfur based. Combine the two and the smell could easily go airborne!

 

Yes, Prime is farty...and not just regular farty, but more like egg farts. Pretty reesty. lol

 

Switch to safe by seachem you will only need a tiny pinch and it smells bad only when the lid is off the can of safe. If your tank smells like anything other than wet earth something is wrong

I'm highly entertained with this thread lol. I've never used Prime and now I'm hoping that I don't have to

I use prime the smell is not that bad. Prime is one of the better treatments...

 

Ive been using API for water treatment / dechlorinator for over a year, still have Prime on the shelf too. Also if you have air bubbler the air trapped in bubbles with expose stink from the fish tank as it releases on surface

 

Hey OP, what is your substrate and how deep is it? If the smell is there 5 minutes after adding prime, I doubt the prime is what's giving off the smell, unless you have major chlorine or chloramines in your water. Prime works pretty quickly so it shouldn't be smelling for too long. I'm suspecting a funky filter, deep substrate that bubbles sometimes, or a large buildup of waste on the bottom of your tank.

 

API Stress Coat works for us. No smell. We even removed our carbon filter. Still no smell. But no smell = no humour as you can tell (knock knock - who's there? - Someone at the door fool! see - no humour) so maybe add EXTRA prime and keep everyone happy.

 

We had an accident which caused electricity to go out in my area. It came back in a few days and now two of my tanks (a tank and a large bucket actually) stink. I did not plug out the filters and the inside of the filters smelled like death. When electricity came back on, they poured all that smell in the tanks. I removed the smelly filter media from the two smelly tanks but it was too late. I did two water changes on the bucket and it seems fine. The tank though smells like death. Will I have to wait for the smell to subside? I only did one water change in the tank because when I took the filter media out, it smelled so bad that I started to foam at the mouth. ( It was that bad. Who knew I could foam like a rabid animal? )
Do I just continue doing water changes for the smelly tank or what? . The tank normally smells earthy, I assume all the bacteria in the filter died. The fish seem fine though.

 

Are you sure none of the fish (or inverts if you have any) died? You could add carbon to help remove the smell. Multiple water changes could also help.

 

This is one of the uses for carbon in this hobby. Run it in your filter and it will absorb the odor.

 

I agree with above just throw some in your filter and see if that works

 

We had an accident which caused electricity to go out in my area. It came back in a few days and now two of my tanks (a tank and a large bucket actually) stink. I did not plug out the filters and the inside of the filters smelled like death. When electricity came back on, they poured all that smell in the tanks. I removed the smelly filter media from the two smelly tanks but it was too late. I did two water changes on the bucket and it seems fine. The tank though smells like death. Will I have to wait for the smell to subside? I only did one water change in the tank because when I took the filter media out, it smelled so bad that I started to foam at the mouth. ( It was that bad. Who knew I could foam like a rabid animal? )
Do I just continue doing water changes for the smelly tank or what? . The tank normally smells earthy, I assume all the bacteria in the filter died. The fish seem fine though.

The fish will seem fine in rotten water for awhile. I'd suggest testing your water a couple times a week for a couple of weeks just to make sure ypu haven't had a die off of bacteria.