concern/issue

is algae supose to smell bad my waters been kinda smelly the last week and i noticed a increase in algae i dont skim because my bioload is practicly nothing but when i run my finger across the glass and smell the algae it smells really bad i think thats whats causing the water smell but could anyone verify? its like a seawater smell also i havea noticed a few small grey patchs in my sand when the damsel stirs it up anything for concern or is it just die off in the sand bed?

 

27 views and no one is able to chime in....

 

the grey patches in the sand bed, is possibly broken down waste , such as snail, crab and fish poop, it often accumulates in areas of more subtle flow, such as under rock ledges, or close to rockwork, where water movement does not keep it in circulation

I assume you have no sump? as often in a system with sump, and reasonable water flow, this detritus would be carried over and down into a waiting filter sock ( if one is employed) or just settle in the bottom of the sump

the smell
could be a number of contributors to this
Algae does smell typically like the sea, and I have noticed this myself when I have also removed algae from ledges etc using a finger tip

but in general there is no unpleasant smell from my aquarium

couple of things to consider

water flow / water movement, if you do not have enough surface water movement for gas exchange then this can result in reduced oxygen, build up of CO2 which may account for some of the smell

Carbon - if your not running activated carbon, that may be worth considering as that should also help to remove any odor

 

Umm... Bad smell can be from extra nutrients in the tank, my tank only has two small clowns and two mollies and I still skim sure it takes time to get the foam to become colored BUT I still get gunk. Over feeding will cause a bad smell in the tank. Well I also have a clean up crew but still a very low load for the size of the tank. When was your last water change? old water can become rather stinky as well.

Edit: Carbon will help remove the smell.

(my tank is 46gal)

 

yeah it just smells if i lather my hand up with algae the water itself never smells

 

Why are you sniffing the algae?

 

i was cleaning the tank and the water smelled weird so i was curious to find out what it was so i smelled the algae on the wall weird but effective

 

As weird as it sounds, different algae (or similar ) do smell different. Dinoflagellates smell pretty darn bad, much worse that GHA. Cyanobacteria can get a rotten egg smell to it.

 

I'm getting confused. IMO, stinky water is an issue with specific fixes like carbon or changing feeding/filtering methods.

Stinky algae is just an observation with no fix needed.

 

lol....yes, quit smelling your algae.