Weird Smell....??

[Jumpshot724]

I recently bought an Exo-Terra turtle cliff filter for my FBT tank, and it worked fine for a couple weeks. Then last week I noticed the water had a lot of white bubbles on top, and the water looked like it was carbonated (like soda) with tiny tiny bubbles in it. I immediately shut off the filter, checked it and found no issues, didn't smell anything, and left it off for the past few days. The water became clear (or should I say back to normal) pretty quickly.

Just now I tried turning it on again to see the same problem, only this time I smelled something almost immediately after turning it on. It smells like Sulphur (rotten eggs). The smell drastically decresed after I shut the filter off, but it is still there if you stick your nose all the way in the tank. Any ideas??

[Kurt]

Sounds, or should I say, smells like anaerobic bacteria. I would do a water change, then a filter change a few day later or vice versa.

[SludgeMunkey]

I agree with Kurt, sounds like a classic case of excessive biological material decaying in the water. Definitely time for some water changes and some good cleaning of the tank equipment and decorations.

[Jumpshot724]

There were some leaves in the water decompossing, as well as some moss the toads dragged in. I took that out and ran both filters (I have the regular turtle cliff filter and a "natural" filter which is just a pump submerged in hydroballs under my land area that pumps up to a waterfall; I had the waterfall filter off for a few eeks because there were some leaks in the receiver bowl at the top of the tank I was trying to seal up 'cause it was soaking my background).

Anyway it seems to have resolved itself. I soaked up the top layer of the water with paper towel at the suggestion of a member of another site and am running both filters now. I stuck my nose all the way in and don't smell a thing other than what the viv is supposed to smell like (very foresty lol).

It was just weird how all of a sudden it started up and now is gone. Very odd, all well.
Thanks all!!!!

[Kurt]

You're welcome.