Funny smell from cycling tank

[dpvarn]

Hi All, I started cycling a one gallon (glass) tank about a week ago. I put aragonite (rinsed) as a substrate, and mixed up half-strength sea water (using marine salt and distilled water), added a sea fan and a polyresin cave. There is also microalgae from this site in the water. My problem/concern is this: the tank has a distinct "chemical" smell to it, much like the smell of formaldehyde. It's a bit pungent, and unpleasant. I've never cycled a tank before, so not sure if this is normal. But it doesn't seem normal. The polyresin cave is for aquariums, and while it's suppose to be nontoxic, I'm not sure if it specifically states that it is OK to use in salt water. My questions: should I be concerned about the smell, and if so, could the polyresin be the source of it? Any suggests for correcting this? Thanks is advance for any help that you can give.

[Varanus]

It is pretty normal for a cycling tank to smell a bit, so I would only worry if the smell doesn't go away when the cycle is completed.

As for what to do about it in the meantime, does your tank have a top? A lid could help mitigate the smell at least. I'm sure there are things you could put in the water to help, but you'd have to make sure they are safe for shrimp and won't interfere with the cycling.

[dpvarn]

Thanks for your reply Varanus. I wasn't so concerned about the smell from an aesthetic point of view, but rather from a safety-of-the-water-for-invertebrates point of view. Sounds as if the smell is par for the course, and I'm happy to wait it out.

[mighty mite]

You mean a sea fan like a coral? That is probably the culprit. It might have been better to soak it in a bucket or your pool for a few days, then rinse it off.

You can't really cycle a 1 gallon tank though. More like you are just waiting for some algae to start growing and for the algae to consume any nitrates in the water.

For my shrimp tank I actually put a bunch of miracle grow and moss in the tank and turned on a light to help moss and algae grow. Generally you don't want to use miracle grow in tanks but for this case high nitrates is a GOOD thing to help kickstart algae and plant growth.

Then I waited about 3 months before I put shrimp in, when algae was growing well and moss seemed to be bigger. I changed the water a week before I put them in. Everything seemed OK.

At this point I'd just keep it in there, but wait til there is plenty of algae and the smell is gone, and do a water change with the right water about a week before you put them in. Shrimp are pretty delicate so getting them going initially can be tough, but once the tank is going OK then there should not be many problems so long as you don't feed too much or have a lot of rotting plants.

[dpvarn]

Thanks for your input mighty mite.

Yes, the sea fan is just like the standard sea fan that you see in most commercial Hawaiian shrimp bulbs.

I don't want to use the terminology incorrectly, but you are right that I'm waiting for the conditions in the tank to become wholesome for shrimp. I had an ecosphere for about two years that I just liberated. I started with eight shrimp, and had gotten down to two. Like so many folks here, I did some research and discovered that the ecospheres were not a particular good home for the little guys. Additionally, I wanted a larger enclosure that I could enjoy more. So I cracked open the ecosphere and now the shrimp---along with most of their ecosphere furnishings---are in a glass on my desk. I think that they are safe and they seem fine, but I'd certainly like to move them into a better home as soon as I can.

[Mustafa]

Any updates? How are the shrimp doing?