Cycling Reef Tank Smells

[KVYA]

I know that the tank is supposed to smell while its cycling but I want to know why.

This is my second tank
I'm cycling a 25g with 29 lbs BRS reefsaver, 40lbs CaribSea Fiji pink Dry sand, and 10lbs of Ocean Direct Caribbean live sand.

My first tank is a 10g and when I was cycling it, it never smelled.

The tank I'm cycling smells a lot( smells kind of like the ocean to me in a way) but it smelled so bad to my mom that she thought a fish had died and it fills the whole living room.

I'm currently cycling it with some Ace Janitorial 10% ammonia and a little bit of fish food.

So far my ammonia goes down from about 3 ppm to 0 ppm in about 4-5 days.

 

[inetjnky]

The ammonia is all you need plus a bottle of bacteria. Stop adding the fish food.

 

[FlyinBryan]

The ammonia is all you need plus a bottle of bacteria. Stop adding the fish food.

I personally disagree with this. I've not seen success in speeding up the cycling process.

Again jmo.

 

[inetjnky]

He asked how to stop the smell, not on how to speed up the cycling process. The fish food is causing his smell issue.

 

[twilliard]

Pump some water through a carbon reactor and call it a day :)
Hi DOC'S