smelly tank

[Evan Baker]

I have a heavily planted tank that I have mainly only gravel vacced the surface of the gravel to get detritus and not dug in to the gravel to get anything that has accumulated in the gravel.  It has gradually began to smell a little funky.  Today I did some work on it, to include more thorough gravel vac and it released some large bubble, I can't remember the gas that builds up in the gravel and has a sulfery smell to it, but obviously it was there and got released.  

Any recommendations on ways to prevent this with a heavily planted tank so I don't get a bad smelling tank again?  Not sure what to do about the gravel vac because I don't want to damage the plants.  

I used to have Malaysian trumpet snails in years past and never seems to have this problem, but I don't currently have maybe I need to find some and get those going again since they bury themselves in the gravel and might help with that issue.

[Zac]

On 8/6/2022 at 9:45 PM, Evan Baker said:

I have a heavily planted tank that I have mainly only gravel vacced the surface of the gravel to get detritus and not dug in to the gravel to get anything that has accumulated in the gravel.  It has gradually began to smell a little funky.  Today I did some work on it, to include more thorough gravel vac and it released some large bubble, I can't remember the gas that builds up in the gravel and has a sulfery smell to it, but obviously it was there and got released.  

Any recommendations on ways to prevent this with a heavily planted tank so I don't get a bad smelling tank again?  Not sure what to do about the gravel vac because I don't want to damage the plants.  

I used to have Malaysian trumpet snails in years past and never seems to have this problem, but I don't currently have maybe I need to find some and get those going again since they bury themselves in the gravel and might help with that issue.

I guess my first question would be what does it smell like? I’ve noticed a lot of tanks have a slight odor to them. Like a musty smell and if you have plants it will smell “planty” if that makes sense. If it smells foul it could be a build up of ammonia or protein in the tank. I have sand and a heavily planted tank and almost never gravel vacuum. There may be gas under there but I’m not sure. Sometimes I may stir up the debris on the surface and vacuum it out of the water calumn but it’s usually not an issue.

I’m surprised you have gas in the gravel. I would think that the stones are large enough to not create caves in the substrate. Either way I would do a water test to see if there’s ammonia or other waste 

[BAT]

@Zac I had a similar problem

Does it smell like rotten eggs? I have read about hydrogen sulfide collecting under gravel and bubbles rising from gravel  I started gravel vacuuming in spots where there no plants.

[nabokovfan87]

You are likely smelling nitrates in the water.  Please test all the parameters that you can for the tank so we can get a grasp on what is going on.  If possible, please share photos as well of your setup, filtration, etc.

[anewbie]

It can also be rotting food on the rim of the tank. Most of my tank are fairly order less unless there is a some food that missed the tank and got trapped on the rim and is rotting.