So my tank kind of smells. It's not horrible, and I do have a very sensitive nose because nobody else notices a smell unless they have their face right in it. It's not a poo smell or rotten or sulphur. I can't put my finger on it, but it has a smell.
The tank is almost cycled. I just got the master test kit, and all my water parameters are good. I'm not over-dechlorinating. We have city water which is neither hard nor soft. It's a 5.5 gallon with 2 snails (Turbo and Ariel) and 3 danios/glofish (Cheetah, Flynn Rider, and Grandma - my 3 year old named them all.) Too small of a tank I know, but I'm just waiting for the cycle to complete and new tank to be cycled before moving them to a much larger tank. I have 2 small plants that are green and healthy looking - a java fern and something else uhhh anubias. The anubias rhizome isn't buried/rotting. I'm still doing a 2 gallon water change morning and night, and the ammonia hovers between 0 and .25. I vacuum the gravel a little bit each time I change the water, and nothing really comes out of it and no crud gets stirred up into the water, so I'm sure the tank is very clean. I'm not overfeeding that I can tell. I alternate between a tiny pinch of tropical flakes and a tiny pinch of freeze dried bloodworms, once per day and the fish eat it all within a minute or so. And I throw the snails half an algae wafer every other day plus a bit of cucumber or zucchini at night, which I remove what hasn't been eaten in the morning. The water is clear, fish and snails are happy and active. Turbo spends every waking moment cleaning up, so there's no obvious algae on the glass or the decorations. Do fish tanks just smell? Is it because it's little? I just have the filter that came with the tank starter kit. It does create quite a little wave zone, so it keeps the water circulating nicely. Do I need more filtration? I do have an air pump and a bubble tube that runs the whole length of the tank. I was going to build a DIY biofilter for the larger tank out of PVC and an airstone + biomedia, but I could make a little one for the small tank in the meantime if that would help.
I do have a small piece of cuttlebone in the filter compartment for calcium for the snails' shells. I took it out and sniffed it, and it smells like nothing so I don't think it's that. Is there anything I haven't thought of? This picture is before I added the live plants. I removed 2 of the plastic ones. Can you tell a 3 year old designed this
The tank is almost cycled. I just got the master test kit, and all my water parameters are good. I'm not over-dechlorinating. We have city water which is neither hard nor soft. It's a 5.5 gallon with 2 snails (Turbo and Ariel) and 3 danios/glofish (Cheetah, Flynn Rider, and Grandma - my 3 year old named them all.) Too small of a tank I know, but I'm just waiting for the cycle to complete and new tank to be cycled before moving them to a much larger tank. I have 2 small plants that are green and healthy looking - a java fern and something else uhhh anubias. The anubias rhizome isn't buried/rotting. I'm still doing a 2 gallon water change morning and night, and the ammonia hovers between 0 and .25. I vacuum the gravel a little bit each time I change the water, and nothing really comes out of it and no crud gets stirred up into the water, so I'm sure the tank is very clean. I'm not overfeeding that I can tell. I alternate between a tiny pinch of tropical flakes and a tiny pinch of freeze dried bloodworms, once per day and the fish eat it all within a minute or so. And I throw the snails half an algae wafer every other day plus a bit of cucumber or zucchini at night, which I remove what hasn't been eaten in the morning. The water is clear, fish and snails are happy and active. Turbo spends every waking moment cleaning up, so there's no obvious algae on the glass or the decorations. Do fish tanks just smell? Is it because it's little? I just have the filter that came with the tank starter kit. It does create quite a little wave zone, so it keeps the water circulating nicely. Do I need more filtration? I do have an air pump and a bubble tube that runs the whole length of the tank. I was going to build a DIY biofilter for the larger tank out of PVC and an airstone + biomedia, but I could make a little one for the small tank in the meantime if that would help.
I do have a small piece of cuttlebone in the filter compartment for calcium for the snails' shells. I took it out and sniffed it, and it smells like nothing so I don't think it's that. Is there anything I haven't thought of? This picture is before I added the live plants. I removed 2 of the plastic ones. Can you tell a 3 year old designed this
