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Hi everyone, just a few weeks ago I bought a xp3 filter with ceramic rings and I have been getting problems with the bacterial bloom. My problem is a horrid smell that comes out of the tank when it starts turning cloudy a few days later. I have already did 100% water change and cleaned the filters and started over with some beneficial bacteria but in the end it didn't work The tank smells like eggs and the water is milky white, the beneficial bacteria I am using has not expired. Is there any way to solve this?

You don't want to do a complete water change and cleaning to try to solve the problem. Do partial water changes, about 10 - 20%, for several days when the water gets cloudy.

When you say you started over with some beneficial bacteria, what exactly did you use?

I'm assuming you don't have gravel or small pebbles in the thank, right?

Thanks for the reply And yes I have no pebbles or gravel. I used NutraFin Cycle Biological Aquarium Supplement (was the only thing I could get in my local aquarium store). The reason I did a full water change was cause the smell was very very horrible. I forgot to mention I did try partial water changes for the first time but... the smell was going everywhere. Thanks for your help!

Are you sure that's what the smell is? I once had a bottle of AmQuel (water conditioner) produce a super foul odor.

steve wrote:Are you sure that's what the smell is? I once had a bottle of AmQuel (water conditioner) produce a super foul odor.

I have heard about Amquel sometimes stinking too (on my frog discussion board, someone recently complained about it). I personally have never used Amquel.

Hi thanks for the replies everyone. The smell is just bad so yea... I have a driftwood from years ago when my turtles were still small and kept it inside for them to play with, do you think some bad bacteria got stuck on it or something cause I have no other idea what could be causing all this smell.

Driftwood can have a particular odor, but it shouldn't suddenly become super noticeable.
By washing the tank and cleaning it, you restart the bacterial cycle all over again, so perhaps if you try waiting it out by only doing partial water changes for 2 weeks or so you'll see an improvement.

How did the driftwood smell before you put it in the tank? It's always possible that something you put in your tank is loaded with organic waste that is now decomposing rapidly in the tank water. Shells collected on the beach are notorious for fouling aquariums because they still have the dead snails in them. If you have anything like that you should remove it. Continue doing maybe 50% water changes and continue using the Cycle according to their directions. Hopefully it will work itself out.

Thanks again for the responses, I'll try taking the driftwood out and try partial water changes with cycle.