# My tank stinks



## funnycide (Aug 22, 2012)

Hello, I am in the process of completely recreating an environment for my goldfish. Long story short, I bought a 40 gal tank for my beloved boyfriend who previously kept oscars and other types over his lifetime. He tried fresh water sharks in the new tank but they all died.  Turns out the ph was way off. After several weeks of no fish in the new tank, he came home with 4 $0.97 feeder fish...goldfish. Bunch of cuties. Any way, since then I've come to learn that I have too many goldfish for my tank, he's lost interest so it's my problem. I originally bought a 75 gal aqeon filter and have added a 50 gal fluval c. I also changed the gravel over the last several weeks. He chose some horrible painted gravel, i replaced it with natural rocks. I did this over the course of several days. Completed 2 weeks ago. I also added some air stones and fake plants since they ate the live ones. They seem to like them. Both filters running and 20% water changes 2 or 3 times a week and today I came home and my house smelled like dirty diapers. I rinsed the filter pads , cleaned the aqeon and vaccummed the gravel (20% water change) this has helped the smell. So finally, my question is...Is this what I need to do every few days to keep this smell out if my living room? Or am I harming the fish? I'm new at this but very interested in keeping a nice goldfish tank. Thanks for any help someone can provide.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Oh no, NEVER rinse the filter pads! Huge rule unless you do it in tank water and not scrubbing it because all the good bacteria gets washed off that actually helps keep the tank clean and the fish alive. So that pretty much washes off the whole cycle of the tank. 

Anyways I'd recomend adding carbon sacks to the tank, also once you get the tank fully cycled again you can add different fish. I often cycle my tanks using feeder fish like goldfish and minnows. 

So here is what I would do, a 50% water change is mandatory if you want to keep them alive since the cycle has been washed off of the pads. Go to Walmart or if you already have some old nylons (panty hose) and add active carbon to it and stuff as much of it as you can in the empty spaces of your filter boxes (leaving filter pads in) that should take te small out of the water and you swap carbon ever other week. Leaving old carbon in the tank will hurt the fish because after it absorbs all the bad stuff in the water it will begin to leak it all back into the tank causing it to crash sort of like what happend to your boyfriends sharks. 

Now with this new info on how to keep fish rub it in his face that your going to do much better because you made your way to fishforums!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

The dirty diaper smell is likely an ammonia spike. This is what the filter is supposed to take care of (turn ammonia to nitrite to nitrate), but until it is "cycled" (read the stickied posts on cycling). Water changing will keep the fish alive. An "ammonia detoxifying" water conditioner can help fish survive "cycling'. Gravel-washing gunk (poop, algae, uneaten food) can reduce the amount of ammonia being produced, but replacing the filter media is counter productive. Rinse (in old tank water if you can, in cool tap if its bad) and put it back. Once "cycled", a weekly water change should be enough to keep it under control. You were right to react to that smell. It always means check for corpses and change water.


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