Smell of nitrites

The dead fish thread reminded me of something. I can smell high
nitrites as soon as I walk into a room. That's how I knew the water was
probably fine in the tank with the lost guppy before I even tested it.
I always know when the nitrites appear in a cycling tank, and I know
the smell of a healthy, mature filter. Am I the only one who "tests"
water chemistry by sniffing it?

"Altum" wrote in message
oups.com...
The dead fish thread reminded me of something. I can smell high
nitrites as soon as I walk into a room. That's how I knew the water was
probably fine in the tank with the lost guppy before I even tested it.
I always know when the nitrites appear in a cycling tank, and I know
the smell of a healthy, mature filter. Am I the only one who "tests"
water chemistry by sniffing it?
===================
To me a mature tank smells like the nearby lake. :-) My sun-fishroom
(also loaded with plants) always has that faint aroma of a lake. I love it.
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Note: There are two Koi-Lo's on the Aquaria groups.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Altum wrote:
The dead fish thread reminded me of something. I can smell high
nitrites as soon as I walk into a room. That's how I knew the water was
probably fine in the tank with the lost guppy before I even tested it.
I always know when the nitrites appear in a cycling tank, and I know
the smell of a healthy, mature filter. Am I the only one who "tests"
water chemistry by sniffing it?


I quite often sniff my tanks to check that all seems well..any suspicion
and out come the test kits...I find using my nose first is a lot cheaper
than shelling out on the chemicals...

So nope, you are not alone...but maybe the two of us are g

Gill

Hi..

Am I the only one
who "tests" water chemistry by sniffing it?

Well, you (Gill and you) aren't alone..! :-)
--
cu
Marco

Well, you (Gill and you) aren't alone..! :-)

Oooops, Gill, Koi-Lo and you..
--
cu
Marco

"Mean_Chlorine" wrote in message
...
Thusly "Altum" Spake Unto All:

The dead fish thread reminded me of something. I can smell high
nitrites as soon as I walk into a room. --- Am I the only one who "tests"
water chemistry by sniffing it?

No, it's a excellent idea to smell the water.

However, what you're feeling the smell of isn't nitrite, but ammonia
and mercaptans. Our noses are extremely sensitive to the smell of
ammonia and mercaptans, and we can detect them at ppm levels.

The rule is that if tank water smells outright bad, a sharp, nasty,
smell, then it's got a nitrite/ammonia problem, and you need to do
water changes to save your fish ASAP.


I don't know if I could detect ammonia with my nose, but I do smell a lot of
sulphur in my well water for the last month and it's worrying me for water
changes. To compensate, I'm using more turbulence in the water (hoping to
dissipate it faster), and I'm refilling the tanks slowly (less than a gallon
a minute). I've just started filling 5g water jugs a week earlier, so they
will have equalized more by the time I use them.

Does anyone know the characteristics of the source of this smell? Does it
take long to leave the water, and is the water left harmless after?

My only experience with sulphide gases is from anaerobic bacteria under
large ornaments and driftwood, so I already know that this stuff suddenly
released, can be toxic to fish. However are these sulphide gases the same
as what cause the sulphur smell in well water?

TIA
--
www.NetMax.tk

Thusly "NetMax" Spake Unto All:

Does anyone know the characteristics of the source of this smell? Does it
take long to leave the water, and is the water left harmless after?

Hydrogen sulphide is weakly toxic, and smells like, well, like
someone's farted. It's said to smell like rotten eggs, but to me it
smells like fart. Anyway, it's a completely different smell than the
sharp, putrid, smell of ammonia & mercaptans you get in aquaria which
are cycling, and there's no risk of confusing those two smells.

However are these sulphide gases the same
as what cause the sulphur smell in well water?

Probably, yes. Fortunately you can smell hydrogen sulphide at levels
much lower than they're lethal to fish, and water changes helps.

This link might be of interest to you:
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex1160?opendocument

Incidentally, it seems crustaceans are far more sensitive to hydrogen
sulphide than fish.

"Mean_Chlorine" wrote in message
...
Thusly "NetMax" Spake Unto All:

Does anyone know the characteristics of the source of this smell? Does
it
take long to leave the water, and is the water left harmless after?

Hydrogen sulphide is weakly toxic, and smells like, well, like
someone's farted. It's said to smell like rotten eggs, but to me it
smells like fart. Anyway, it's a completely different smell than the
sharp, putrid, smell of ammonia & mercaptans you get in aquaria which
are cycling, and there's no risk of confusing those two smells.

However are these sulphide gases the same
as what cause the sulphur smell in well water?

Probably, yes. Fortunately you can smell hydrogen sulphide at levels
much lower than they're lethal to fish, and water changes helps.

This link might be of interest to you:
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex1160?opendocument

Incidentally, it seems crustaceans are far more sensitive to hydrogen
sulphide than fish.


Yes, thanks, very helpful. I do periodically shock the well (but
it's -18C right now and the well cap is under much ice & snow ;~).
Discounting their hydrogen peroxide, potassium permanganate, chlorine,
ozone and bleach treatments, they talk about aeration, and make mention
of an iron reducing valve having variable effectiveness (improves as the
water is more acidic). I'm a little more comfortable knowing aeration
will have a significant effect, so I'll stick with a routine of aging the
water for a week, and see how it goes.

OT, regarding Ja b riol in the ' AråchñÕe¤ thread ', these persons are
fully capable, willing and planning to bring significant havoc to rafm.
Rec.ponds is a wreck and alt.aquaria is currently being overwhelmed. If
nothing changes, we will be their next target, and our options are
limited. I don't know about you, but I'm rather fond of rafm and have
enjoyed many interesting discussions here. When I can repeat
conversations to friends, from the newsgroup, then I know the group is
part of my life (social, entertainment and academic too).

If they choose to snow us under 100s of robo-generated posts, they will
regardless. If they want to intimidate me, then they now have a very big
target with over 10,000 mostly boring posts from which to gather
information from (they'll know more about my tanks than I'll remember
;~). fwiw, I'll take your advice if the exchange is fruitless, but
regardless of the outcome, it was worth asking them to stop... the cause
justifies the effort, eh?

Thanks again for the link.
cheers
--
www.NetMax.tk

Thusly "NetMax" Spake Unto All:

Discounting their hydrogen peroxide, potassium permanganate, chlorine,
ozone and bleach treatments, they talk about aeration, and make mention
of an iron reducing valve having variable effectiveness (improves as the
water is more acidic).

Yeah, degassing is more effective at lower pH's. However hydrogen
peroxide could help with the smell. I presume you know about devices
like this?:
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com.../oxydator.html

;~). fwiw, I'll take your advice if the exchange is fruitless, but
regardless of the outcome, it was worth asking them to stop... the cause
justifies the effort, eh?

Just be careful. I know from personal experience that guys like these
can cause real-world effects.

On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 18:18:37 -0500, NetMax wrote:
;~). fwiw, I'll take your advice if the exchange is fruitless, but
regardless of the outcome, it was worth asking them to stop... the cause
justifies the effort, eh?

I kind of agree, the sensitive being in me wants to agree, but
the geek in me says "just killfile, and hard".

We don't have to view the ******** they spout.

--
Flash Wilson - Web Design & Mastery - 0870 401 4061 / 07939 579090
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Work: www.wdam.co.uk Personal: www.gorge.org