My fish tank smells GOD AWFUL.

Wait until you get a wiff of your skimmer cup....YUK!

 

Haha yeah my tank smells too. It's not a worrying smell....just smells like a hot, humid fish market/wharf. Maybe you're just sensitive to the normal smell of your tank water.

 

No my tank def has an awful smell, I smelled the biocube at the LFS and I couldn't smell anything, but mine still smells nasty. I did not clean anything with any chemicals, The only thing used to clean anything was just fresh water and let it dry.

I got a test kit on my way to work, ill test everything that I can tommorow, for im too drunk now to be messing with chemicals =)

 

Interesting situation. I don't thing that you've done anything wrong here and I thing that ultimately you won't have any problem.

I got dry Pukani from BRS and the first order was just one piece (about 20 lbs). The piece looked totally clean and dry without a bit of scent to it. It might be significant that when I ordered my rock they said that it was the last little bit of Pukani that they had in stock. A few weeks later, I placed my big order for over 300 lbs of dry Pukani. When it arrived, I noticed that a few of the pieces had a very little bit of dead material still attatched. I figured that this was just a little bit of old sponge. A few of these rocks had just a tiny bit of moisture still and just a little bit of smell like you might find at a grocery store that wasn't selling the freshest of fish. Keep in mind that this was only a few pieces out of 370 lbs. I just pulled the organic looking stuff off with my hand and didn't give it a second thought. I never rinsed my rock. I just crossed my fingers and put it in the tank. I didn't have any problems when I filled the tank but I did notice a little bit of smell for 2 or 3 days. I figured that the smell was maybe about 1% of what I would have experienced if I was trying to cure live rock and it was all gone soon enough.

As to your specific case, I suspect that you mey have had a liitle bit more of the dead organic material still clinging to your dry rock. Did you notice places that were black or dark brown? Rotten Eggs smell is characteristic of sulfer compounds. In fish tanks, sulfer is most commonly produced under anaerobic conditions. I'm wondering if you have some pockets in the rock where the water has not replaced the original air bubbles. The oxygen in these bubbles could be quickly depleted leaving you with anearobic conditions which would allow sulfer producing bacteria to work their magic.

I didn't see you big your tank is but you might try turning your rocks around in the water to see if you can dislodge a gas bubbles that might be trapped up in a crevice. If you do see any little bits of organic debris on the rock you could either remove it or take the view that it is providing fuel for your initial tank cycle. Either way, I think that your tank smell is likely to get better all on its own. Hopefully this will happen within the next day or two. At the outside it should be resolved in a week or two. In the mean time, sorry that it smells like Elizabeth, NJ in your tank room.

 

Most established tanks have no smell at all as you noticed with the Biocube, but most newer tanks, especially cycling tanks, can have a smell. Some are worse than others. Considering it was base rock, dry sand, and RO/DI saltwater, GoToSleep's guess is probably the best. Especially since he has experience with the same type of base rock.

Running carbon should help with the smell, but the smell should ultimately go away once you're cycled/mature. Our tanks smelled the first week, but that's it. But we also pretty much had a "mini" cycle rather than a full one due to pre cured, pre cycled live rock, 50 gallons of water from an established system (LFS coral frag system too), and "live" (dead) sand.

 

Gotosleep, thanks for the input, I did notice some sort of die-off in my rocks. I cleaned them the best I could but as you know these rocks are super porous, I can see light coming through the middle of a huge piece I have. Also even though the smell is still there it already seems to be subsiding. I like the idea I may be fueling a cycle, and I think I might pick up a nano powerhead and try to put it low to get some flow through the rocks and stir up any trapped air/gas.

Thanks for your input everyone.

 

I think that getting a powerhead in there for increased water movement is a great idea.

 

I upgraded my pump in my tank to a maxijet 1200 (biocube 29) for more flow, and I added a fresh bag of activated carbon and about 2-3 days later the smell has seem to have dissapeared. The tank still has a unique smell but its far from the foul odor it used to be.