2nd hand canister, stinky tank water, HELP!

[alienara2]

Hey all,

So here's the situation, I've set up my tank, put dirt and gravel down and just before I plugged in my filter, I ran it externally since it was a little stinky. Black water came out and it stank to the high heavens. Anyway, I then flushed away the water, kept letting the filter run until the water ran clear and then used it in the aquarium (didn't clean the canister, stupid me). Anyway, the smell then transferred into the tank. I thought that if I let it run for a little the smell will clear... nope. 

Then finally took the canister, opened it with much trepidation, and cleaned it out. Previous owners left the ceramic noodles in the plastic bag in one of the shelves and got me going wtf... Anyway, cleared the canister, no smells there, plugged it back into the aquarium and ran it for the rest of the night. This morning, water still stank.

My question now is what should I do? Drain the tank as much as I can (bearing in mind that I have gravel and dirt) and refill with fresh water? There's only 10% of water in it right now coz I planted some star grass yesterday.

If this goes on any longer I think I'm going to have to rename my house Rotorua...

Thanks guys.

[Shilo]

I would just fill the tank and leave things as is apart from doing a 50% water changes every couple of days until the smell disappears - which will only be a couple of days.  If it smells like Rottenrua then it means you have a large amount of anaerobic bacteria in the tank. These bacteria would have spread to the soil & gravel from the media kept wet in the plastic bag.

Anaerobic bacteria don't like oxygen so will quickly die off now they in a normal tank environment.  Their die off will lead to a rise in the amount of ammonia in the water which will eventually be taken care off by aerobic bacteria, plants and the water changes.  Your filter will need to be cycled (grow an aerobic bacteria population) before adding any fish so the ammonia caused by the Anaerobic bacteria die off is actually helpful.

If the smell is really ponging out the house then you could do a 90% water change (from a full tank) every day for a couple of days (leave the gravel & soil undisturbed and covered with water) but I don't think it will be necessary as the smell should soon disappear.

 

[Shilo]

By the way Anaerobic bacteria is also wanted in the tank because they remove Nitrates.  Once the tank is cycled your gravel and soil base will hold a healthy population anyway so I wouldn't remove and clean the soil now its in there.  

[alienara2]

Love you long time Shilo!!! I didn't want to put too much water in there as I'm still wanting to get more plants for the aquarium. Caryl has been very generous with her stash so just waiting for those to come.

Before leaving for work today I set the streamers (think that's what they're called) to fire on the water (creating bubbles) rather than at the tank (to keep it quiet) so hopefully oxygenating it will help.

Thanks again Shilo. Was worried that I would have had to remove everything...