[horrible smell in reef tank] Smell’s like the elephant enclosure @ the zoo

[Robert Binz]

I checked on my 5g reef this morning and the water smells *horrible* almost exactly like the elephant enclosure at the zoo. All of the coral look very happy including the duncan.

- Last night I changed the filter pad
- I fed mysis soaked in garlic this morning (this was my first time ever doing this)
- I only run fluval brand carbon in the filter.

Any ideas what this could be? I haven’t smelled anything like this before. If I don’t see an answer here I’ll probably do a big water change.

 

[Roshisatoshi]

Try running some carbon or a chemipure nano

 

[Robert Binz]

Try running some carbon or a chemipure nano

I am running carbon and I just added the bag like 3 days ago. But the smell is new this morning.

 

[Gernader]

I know the smell is not coming from the garlic because I always feed my tank with mysis soaked in garlic

 

[brandon429]

On a nano, do a full clean including sand and rocks with full water change and reacclimation

It freshens up your reef, extends life, and fixes the smell if it's not coming from source water.

sand can be cleaned to zero cloud using tap, final rinse ro water then reinstall

rocks need to be swished out in a bucket of old tank water.

 

[SandJ]

Do you have any snails in the tank?
If so, check around the tank, the floor and if there is a filter/back chamber look in it.

I had a snail get wedged in my back chamber and die. The smell of a dead snail is horrendous. And if you find a dead snail, use a glove or tongs to remove it. And if you go to toss it in the back yard, be aware that the contents of the shell may sling out all over you ;Yuck

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Did you find out what it was?

 

[Robert Binz]

Did you find out what it was?

I didn’t. I did a large water change and the remaining scent just faded away. I’m inclined to think it was the garlic because a google search said it can be stinky in small tanks but I’ll never know for sure

 

[ca1ore]

Not sure I know what an elephant enclosure actually smells like .... my tank occasionally smells like wet dog, usually after I’ve overfed with PE mysis. Never seems to be indicative of anything amiss, nor does it precede anything bad.