Smelly Tanks?

[SkiFletch]

Well, its time for me to ask some questions here for lack of experience. I've been reading a lot about horror stories of people coming home to smelly tanks. Usually, a smelly tank is associated with something dying, rotting, or something horribly wrong with the tank...

What I haven't been able to get a feel for is how bad this "danger" smell is. My tank is in my bedroom and generally admits a slight odor. It sorta smells like my room is a harbor front or sometimes there is a light shrimp sorta smell. The ventillation in the room isn't the best so it kind of lingers around and its pretty much smelled like this for the better part of the last 2 montsh (tank is 3mo old)

The tank is a 45 tall with twin PCs (192w total), a custom sump with refugium, and a seaclone 100 skimmer. Other details can be provided if you need, but its stable and healthy minus the receeding cyanobacteria I've got. Should I be worried about this or is a slight odor normal? And either way, are there any tricks I can go into to keep the smell down over time or should I just get used to it?

 

[BWBettas]

Get one of those automati air freshener sprays and spray it away from the tank... Not surehow effective it would be or if it would settle on the tank but if you have a lid and glass tray should be ok

Bret

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Strange

My room smelt like the coast for the first few weeks but the smell has gone now, or perhaps i've just got used to it? No-one else complains so i don't know.

Sorry i can't help

Dan

 

[SkiFletch]

Get one of those automati air freshener sprays and spray it away from the tank... Not surehow effective it would be or if it would settle on the tank but if you have a lid and glass tray should be ok

Bret

That might work, but I'm not spraying chemicals in that room, thats for sure. Dont want to risk it.. canopy or no

 

[phyto]

My 12 mth old tank has a certain aroma to it, i deffo dont associate it with something dying.
Mine seems to kick out a bit of smell after feeding but will lose the tang after a few hours.
My tank is in quite a small room and evaporates quite a bit of water each day that i have no clue where it goes??
Maybe its the evaporated water that you can smell? if it is and you find out where it's all going let me know pal

 

[Locke]

I wouldn't use any chemicals near my tank what-so-ever. I would try to let the smell go away on its own. My advice is just to keep your feeding habits to a minimum and see if that clears up some of the smell.

Good luck.

SB

 

[sukie]

That's a really good question. . .

What kind of filter do you have?? Or do you have a sump??

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

I wouldn't use any chemicals by my tank either, I don't let my mum clean my room anymore because she'd forget to open the window and spray the polish onto the cloth inside the room if i'm not there

 

[xNOTLOCx]

ha ha ya i like that smeel it remind me of the beach just my room is now as hot as the beach sicne the lighting and the heater lo, but i have a fan... my room is all beach theme so i guess it fits lol, my rat might not like it too much i think he likes dirty poop smell, hmmm lol well ive heard if old food liek the type that flotas for awhile, well ive heard is it gets hot fro the lamp the smell can airate throughout the room mmm, but most tanks have surfave break, so it sinks, but make sure there no dried fishy food on the tank lid or anything... i do a daily check to make sure everythign is ok like i mean an inspection so i can b on top of things, and i always seem to find somethign cool to admire....

 

[SkiFletch]

That's a really good question. . .

What kind of filter do you have?? Or do you have a sump??

...a custom sump with refugium...

Yeah, I run a sump . If you really want to know I run monthly carbon and weekly phosphate binder in there with culerpa and a dsb on an alternating light time schedule to my display.

Phyto: Mine too smells most wafter feeding and least just before. Wonder what that correlation is about

 

[pleder]

I can ell by smell if I need to test my water. You get so used to the good smell that anything off registers.

I don't think I can smell my tank more than a foot away, but my sense of smell sucks because of my allergies. Makes food cheap.

 

[gatorman543]

get a cheap portable air filter, i pop on in my room when i am working around the tank, and the smells get out and it sucks up the odors, and doesn't use any chemicals. They are worth the money too.

A cheaper product is Damprid, it take the moisture out of the air, and can also help with smell in my expirence

 

[Donya]

The only big smell I've ever had come from my tanks was a rather unpleasant one after I fed my freshwater snails broccoli... never had any real odor from my sw tanks. They smell like fairly pure saltwater to me unless I clean the filters, and then it smells like dead seaweed on the seashore, but only for a couple minutes. It could be that nano & smaller tanks don't emit much smell though compared to a big one.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, in talking with other members of my local club a few suggested that my problem might be skimmer vapors... I'm debating setting up a carbon filter for the air offgassing from it. Thanks for the suggestions thus far