# Burned plastic smell in new aquarium



## alex_411 (Mar 6, 2017)

Hi all,

Few days ago I set up my new 90 gals aquarium. I've placed granite rocks and used filter pool sand. Fluval FX6 (just bought recently) is used for filtering. Started from yesterday the water in the tank began to smell like a burned plastic. The only electrical device that I use for now is FX6, so I've checked it. It's not hot and didn't smell burned plastic from outside. I removed all media and checked the filter inside. There was a very small amount of sand at the bottom. I had few small aquariums before and used canister filters but never had the smell like that before.
Any ideas what can be the reason of that smell? I'm using the media that comes with FX6 plus Seachem Matrix and 1 Seapora poly pad.

Thanks


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## smoothie17 (Oct 2, 2015)

This doesn't make any sense, did you take apart the area where the impeller sits?

The only thing that comes to mind for a burning smell would be heater related, but you stated the only electrical is the filter itself.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Sometimes new equipment can have a plastic smell but it is not normal for a burning plastic smell.

Did you take the used FX6 apart and rinse the media before using it? Is the only media in the filter the Seachem Matrix and the Seapora pad, besides the stock foam inserts that come with the filter?

If you already have sand in the filter, you may need to remove the filter's pump and clean out the impeller to be sure there is no sand in the impeller well. Hopefully you got the instruction booklet with the filter but if you didn't, the instructions are available as a PDF on the Fluval website.


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## alex_411 (Mar 6, 2017)

smoothie17 said:


> This doesn't make any sense, did you take apart the area where the impeller sits?
> 
> The only thing that comes to mind for a burning smell would be heater related, but you stated the only electrical is the filter itself.


Yesterday I checked impeller. No sand inside. Clean.
I don't use a heater for now.


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## alex_411 (Mar 6, 2017)

Deeda said:


> Sometimes new equipment can have a plastic smell but it is not normal for a burning plastic smell.
> 
> Did you take the used FX6 apart and rinse the media before using it? Is the only media in the filter the Seachem Matrix and the Seapora pad, besides the stock foam inserts that come with the filter?
> 
> If you already have sand in the filter, you may need to remove the filter's pump and clean out the impeller to be sure there is no sand in the impeller well. Hopefully you got the instruction booklet with the filter but if you didn't, the instructions are available as a PDF on the Fluval website.


FX6 is a new one and I rinsed all media before using it. The only media in the filter is Seachem Matrix, the Seapora pad and stock media.
I asked my daughter to smell a water, just for a second opinion. She said that it's a plastic smell but not a burned plastic smell, but it's strong.
If it's because of the new equipment, should I do water changes to remove it? Or it will disappear with time?

Thanks


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Was the sand used to filter a pool or is it "used pool sand" from another aquarium?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Thanks, I thought you had used equipment so that was my mistake

I don't think you need to do a water change to remove the smell especially since you will need to cycle the tank before adding fish and it should dissipate by that time. Good to hear your daughter gave you a 2nd opinion!


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## alex_411 (Mar 6, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> Was the sand used to filter a pool or is it "used pool sand" from another aquarium?


It's a new pool filter sand (Nepheline Syenite) not used.


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