# Water turning yellow in new tank with eco complete



## AquariumTech (Oct 12, 2010)

Hello, and thanks for any help in advance. 

So heres a problem I have never encountered before. At my house I have been setting up a brand new tank. I decide to use eco complete for substrate. I have used eco-complete many many many many many times, and last night when I was putting it in I noticed a couple things. First off it was smelly, I have never had such a smelly bag of eco complete it was kind of a sulfur like smell, or like rotten eggs. I got past that though, and dismissed it as maybe some plant nutrient or something. I also noticed it didn't come with the usual little packet clarifier things. BTW I did buy this from my Local Fish Store. 

So I was paying attention to the tank during the night and it was clearing up as normal. Then I wake up this afternoon, and the tank is yellow! Its got a decent yellow tint to it, not dark but its very obvious. It also is now making my house smell, I think. Any ideas? Help! What should I do. There is nothing in the tank other than the filter, heater, and some other chemicals (prime, neutral regulator, smig of aquarium salt, and a smig of melafix).

So I have done some research on this already but haven't seen much. Some "experts" say it could be something called "tannins" which is related I guess to backwater that most tropical fish like, and eco complete does say it have some sort of backwater extract; personally though I doubt this is it. 

I saw one other little thing where someone was asking what to do with their smelly bag of eco complete, and the response basically said it was expired. I didn't even think this stuff could expire? So I don't think thats applicable either, I'm pretty sure there wasn't even a date on the bag. 

Any advice at all is appreciated, I have never dealt with a problem as such.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

best thing you can do is contact the manufacturer..tell them that you have used the product many times and never ran into this problem...tell them it is making your whole house stink..question if maybe a bad batch got through or something..then tell them that while you have been satisfied with their product in the past but if this is what it is now then maybe you should switch...
this is called the candy coated poison pen letter..you don't want to rant and rave ; just very politely ask what could have happened and then suggest that it might be better to change brands...
in 99.9% of the cases they will be more than happy to resolve the situation..
in the meantime i would tear down the tank and bag up the substrate and put it outside for the time being...


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## AquariumTech (Oct 12, 2010)

I didn't think about contacting the manufacturer (the ironic part is thats what I spend a good portion of my day telling other people) for gravel, I will do that. 

In the meantime though, you don't think theres any cure for it, where I dont need to dig everything up? I guess I will call the manufacturer and see what they say for now.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

You have a bag that went bad. Not ALL bad, though. The "live" part went sour, but you can salvage it.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

You'll have to scoop it out and rinse it, and change the water in the tank, but then you can use it again. It will still be very good for growing plants.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

It just won't be good for use as a freshwater "live sand" equivalent until it matures again.


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## AquariumTech (Oct 12, 2010)

Yea heres whats weird, I left it in my tank yesterday, didn't have time to deal with it. By night time though it had pretty much cleared almost completely. So then I get up this morning, and again its cloudy. This time it doesn't have a yellow tint, but its much more dense. You can't even see the back of the tank. 

Im starting to wonder if it has something to do with the filter now. I am using a FX6, and I know it has the chip in it that tells the motor to do that anti air pocket thing. I wonder if when it does that sometime in the morning, and if its kicking out what it collected from earlier. I guess I should research that, but would love to hear what else you guys have to say. 

I will go ahead and do that water change though too, sounds like a good idea.


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