Water smells, How do I sanitize?

[Mike]

Hi all,

It's me again, with the 55G tank. I started draining it today, to get
ready for a new series of tropical fish.

You'll remember that all of my goldfish died after about a month. I
made some stupid mistakes that I believe killed the fish; for
instance, I was matching the water temp by mixing hot and cold (I had
no idea that deadly metals could be in the hot water heater).
Furthermore, in spite of my weekly or twice weekly 25% changes (by
vacuum), I saw black spots on my last few fish, which I understand
implied an ammonia or nitrate spike at some point.

After my last fish, a fantail, died, I noticed that the water didn't
really smell all that great, but didn't think much of it. After I
totally drained the tank today, though, I noticed that the water
really did stink quite a bit. I don't know how to explain it, other
than it smelled "fishy," like the nearby lake does. I can't imagine
that this is the way it's supposed to smell, is it? Keep in mind I had
two filters running all the time (Penguin, waterfall-style or whatever
you call it).

If this is a sign of high ammonia or nitrate levels, then what should
I do to sanitize the tank before filling it up again? I read someone
else said they were adding a cup of Clorox, is that right? How do I
clean the gravel and decorations?

Thanks again for all the help!

Mike


PS, those of you that've been with me since the beginning will
probably remember that a lot of the equipment was bought used, and
came with the tank. I'm not entirely sure that I have the filter put
together correctly, even though the guys at the unreliable LFS said I
did.

The Penguin filter came with 1 half-wheel looking thing that doesn't
seem to go anywhere. Any idea where I can find instructions on putting
the thing together, to make sure it's done correctly?

[Robb Hammack]

Mike, please forgive me if this has been covered before........
to sterilize the tank, wipe it out with a 50% bleach solution and let it
air-dry for a couple of days.
in regards to setting it up again:

Most importantly, make sure the tank is properly cycled before introducing
fish. I use a fishless cycling method to avoid
stressing the fish, where you add ammonia drectly to the tank daily to
"feed" the biological filter and get the bacteria colony
growing well. you can find more info on this at
http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html

make sure the fish you choose are suited to your water conditions, unless
you're committed to spending the extra money and time to
modify the water conditions. for instance, if your tap water is hard and
alkaline, consider African rift lake cichlids or other fish that do well in
hard alkaline water - or invest in a good R.O. system ($150 - $300) and mix
RO water and tap water in the proper proportions for the water conditions
you're aiming for.
In general, if you have soft water it's _MUCH_ easier to make it harder than
it is to soften hard water ;o)

Invest in a good water test kit - at the minimum, you need to be able to
test pH, gh, kh, and ammonia.
Also, make sure you choose fish that are suited to the temperature range
you're able to maintain the tank at - goldfish are a cold-water fish, and
don't do well at higher temperatures. to keep goldfish happy and healthy,
you want to be able to keep the water temp down in the 50 - 68 deg range
(Farenheight) which takes a chiller in many cases, esp. if you live in a
southern / tropical climate.
Hope this is of some help! If you provide more details on what types of
fish you want, the parameters (pH, gh, and kh) of your tapwater, etc. I'm
sure plenty of people will advise you ;o)

--Robb Hammack


"Mike" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi all,
>
> It's me again, with the 55G tank. I started draining it today, to get
> ready for a new series of tropical fish.
>
> You'll remember that all of my goldfish died after about a month. I
> made some stupid mistakes that I believe killed the fish; for
> instance, I was matching the water temp by mixing hot and cold (I had
> no idea that deadly metals could be in the hot water heater).
> Furthermore, in spite of my weekly or twice weekly 25% changes (by
> vacuum), I saw black spots on my last few fish, which I understand
> implied an ammonia or nitrate spike at some point.
>
> After my last fish, a fantail, died, I noticed that the water didn't
> really smell all that great, but didn't think much of it. After I
> totally drained the tank today, though, I noticed that the water
> really did stink quite a bit. I don't know how to explain it, other
> than it smelled "fishy," like the nearby lake does. I can't imagine
> that this is the way it's supposed to smell, is it? Keep in mind I had
> two filters running all the time (Penguin, waterfall-style or whatever
> you call it).
>
> If this is a sign of high ammonia or nitrate levels, then what should
> I do to sanitize the tank before filling it up again? I read someone
> else said they were adding a cup of Clorox, is that right? How do I
> clean the gravel and decorations?
>
> Thanks again for all the help!
>
> Mike
>
>
> PS, those of you that've been with me since the beginning will
> probably remember that a lot of the equipment was bought used, and
> came with the tank. I'm not entirely sure that I have the filter put
> together correctly, even though the guys at the unreliable LFS said I
> did.
>
> The Penguin filter came with 1 half-wheel looking thing that doesn't
> seem to go anywhere. Any idea where I can find instructions on putting
> the thing together, to make sure it's done correctly?
>

[nuchumYussel]

Whit all due respect Robb, I highly disagree. I had the same probem
with my tank. I solved this problem by doing 25% water changes once a
week. IMO bleeching your tank is the worst thing you could do.

Evan