# Smell and Smokey Water



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

I recently did a pwc in my 37 gallon freshwater aquarium that has 3 juvenile goldfish. I have 2 filters topfin 40 and aquaclear 50. i had one bubble wand going with a air pump for 5-15 gallon aquarium. I decided to add a coral decoration with airstone to my aquarium...that is where the trouble started. I had tested my water after my pwc and ammonia was 0ppm nitrate 5ppm nitrite 0ppm ph was 7.0ppm. water temp was 72-74 degrees. my water smelled like water and a tinge of fish. Well after adding the 2nd airstone my bubble wand started to mess up and the new airstone wasnt working properly it barely had any bubbles coming out of it. and also when adding the second airstone it made my air pump louder by someone's suggestion i put it in a sock. back to what i was saying...so i went to the store and bought a new airstone to put in my coral decoration after soaking it for an hour and wow it worked then. well during the night i woke up and smelled a burning smell in my room. i walked over to the aquarium and lifted the lid. and it nearly knocked me down with the strong smell. the next morning i looked at my aquarium and the water had a dark smoking in the water and the smell was really strong... sort of like a hot iron with water in it. this worried me. i tested the water and ph went down to 6.8ppm ammonia 0ppm nitrite 0ppm and nitrate 0ppm. i took the sock off the air pump, i removed the coral decoration with the airstone inside. i did a complete water change. i changed my media in both filters. i bought a new light bulb(in case that was it) and i bought a new air pump. well my water is still not 100 percent clear a light white smokey look but that could be due to the light and the smell is almost gone but not completely. should i be worried? did i do the right things? what caused this? i am completely worried now. i tested my water and ph is back to 7.0ppm ammonia 0ppm nitrite 0ppm and nitrate is between 0-5ppm. my water temp is at 74 degrees. and my three juvenile goldfish look happy...eating good...fins standing tall and very active. so i just need some thoughts about all of it please *Conf*


----------



## Mr_Pat (Apr 13, 2010)

my bet is the air pump gave out


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

yes i have had two other people tell me that. so do you think the water will completely clear and the smell go back to normal now?


----------



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

Reading your explanation as opposed to talking to you in the chat - I don't think the pH drop is due to anything other than a day/night swing minus your air pump.
Plants give out CO2 at night which does cause the pH to drop.
The rest should clear out with normal water changes.
Activated carbon could very well boost the clean-up if there are remnants from burned plastic in there.
Good Luck!
cb


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

Well I woke up this morning ....and the white smokey look or cloudy ...however you want to describe it...it looks like swirling white smoke to me...has gotten worse!  The smell hasn't changed. So just in case I am taking out the bubble wand. I don't understand what is causing this. It makes me want to do another large water change. My fish do not seem to be effected by it. I am going to add a couple of pictures to my album. I would attach here but I never could figure out the url of them...


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

Maybe i have to recycle


----------



## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

Just wondering if your heater is working properlly?


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

I don't have a heater


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

just to add to the first post my air pump never stopped working it just felt alittle warm when i took it out of the sock.


----------



## Cadiedid (Oct 26, 2011)

I would think the cloudiness is because you did a complete water change and removed all your media at once. Most tanks go through a bacterial bloom at the beginning of a cycle and your tank may be cycling again because of the massive removal of bacteria that was present in the media. The parameters may be okay now because of the complete water change but keep an eye on them in case you truly are back in cycle. The bacteria in your gravel and on other surfaces in your tank should give you a head start in that department.

As for the smell, I would think that if your fish are okay with what has happened so far it is just a matter of waiting for the smell to dissipate, so long as the cause of the problem has truly been eliminated. Carbon could help with that but some of that smell could be impregnated in the plastic of your hood, etc., so it could take some time. Good luck. These little tank mysteries can be tricky.


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

I got to thinking about the cloudiness. it was a gray cloudiness before i did the complete water change. and before the gray cloudiness it was veryyyy clear. it became cloudy and smelly after i added that coral airstone which i put a new airstone in. after i did a complete water change and changed my media, air pump, and light bulbs the smell died down and then i now have white swirling cloudiness. i am recycling it now. but sense it was cloudy before the big water change not sure if recycling will solve it. if not should i clean the aquarium out completely and start all over?


----------



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

big water changes often disturb the gravel - that could be your source of cloudiness
cb


----------



## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Could the pump, wrapped up, have begun burning internally? The diaphragm that pushes the air is rubber, and it is always supposed to be well ventilated. An air cooled machine inside a sock is not a good idea.


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

clep.berry~if it was disturbed gravel wouldn't it settle down? and if its cycling again and it a bacterial bloom how long would it take for it to clear?

navigator black~well when i took it out of the sock it was alittle warm. but it didn't smell and it still works. although i don't have it hooked to my bubble wand anymore. i bought a new one.

i probably need to wait a few days and see if the cloudiness goes away. i don't think the filters would cause the cloudiness ~they seem to be working right. it all just worries me and i want my fish to have clear water ...


----------



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

Don't worry about the cloudiness. Disturbed gravel usually clears after 24 hours with a correctly sized filter. sometimes the hardest thing is to do nothing.


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

i am pumping 400Gph now with two filters~a aquaclear 50 and a topfin 40. would it help to add a third filter that would add 150 gph?


----------



## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

That's more than enough filtration - maybe even too much.
cb


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

someone told me that i should be pumping 10x as much for goldfish with a 37 gallon. which i have 3 juvenile goldfish. so according to what i was told i should be pumping 370 gph. they probably said that because goldfish are very messy fish...guess it could be wrong.


----------



## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

No your filters are fine 400 gph is plenty, it is true about goldfish being messy and needing more fitration. Does it seem any clearer today? You could try adding some carbon to help clear the water then just let the filtersdo the job for a day or so, as long as it seems like its clearing up let it go, My guess is you cleaned it so well that you are cycling again. In the future only clean 1 filter at a time then next cleaning clean the other.


----------



## Cadiedid (Oct 26, 2011)

If it's a bacterial bloom, it could be a day or so, but I've seen bad blooms take over a week to clear. The milkier it got, the longer it will take to clear.


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

it does seem a bit better today. last night i turned off my bubble wand because it looked and sounded to powerful. i still have enough water movement on the top of my water from my filters. has anyone ever used API accu clear?


----------



## simplykayla76 (Mar 10, 2012)

Well I decided to try it....wow! 20 minutes and my tank was crystal clear!!!!


----------

