Is the smell of your reef tank a health indicator or not?

[glb]

My tank doesn’t smell except when I’m cleaning out socks/skimmers, etc. Then it smells like the beach. My skimmate has never smelled bad, just earthy like fresh dirt.

 

[green behind the ears]

My wife constantly moans about the smell tells me that the room stinks because of the tank, I can’t smell anything most times, but occasionally I get a whiff of algae and I do a water change.

she is 8 and a half months pregnant so I’ll let her off

 

[Paul B]

Don't worry, in about two weeks she will be pre occupied with other things and she won't even notice you have a fish tank

 

[Reefer Reboot]

Perfect excuse to go surf while the wife cleans the house, "But honey, I have to calibrate my nose".

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I would say yes to a degree. A mature aquarium especially a reef will have that clean low tide smell at the beach. Imcan really smell it when the water level is lower during a water change. There are some bad smells we can encounter as well. Something dead and rotting is one smell we dont want. If you have ever had xenia melt and die thats a nasty smell. The skimmer over flowing smells really bad. Dinos are another nasty smell you dont want to experience. Then there is that burnt plastic and electronic smell.
I can remember my family fish tank as a child and it had a smell that I loved and I use that as an indication that a freshwater aquarium is healthy and mature.

 

[green behind the ears]

Don't worry, in about two weeks she will be pre occupied with other things and she won't even notice you have a fish tank

so will I pal

 

[G Santana]

If you can smell your tank, it's time for a new hobby

 

[Drewbacca]

Nope, Just smell the health of my starfishes Bacterial Gut Biome...

 

[chicago]

So my room that smells is the sump room in the basement and of course that smell hits the furnace and tends therefore make its way to the house in the ventilation system... wondering.. has anyone used one of these to clear up some bad smells... (note I do have a vent system in the room but does not do the trick)

IonicAir™ UV Purifier

IonicAir™ UV Purifier is a filterless air purifier and surface sanitizer and is virtually maintenance-free, compact, quiet and effective. Learn more at Air Oasis.

www.airoasis.com

 

[BanjoBandito]

So my room that smells is the sump room in the basement and of course that smell hits the furnace and tends therefore make its way to the house in the ventilation system... wondering.. has anyone used one of these to clear up some bad smells... (note I do have a vent system in the room but does not do the trick)

IonicAir™ UV Purifier

IonicAir™ UV Purifier is a filterless air purifier and surface sanitizer and is virtually maintenance-free, compact, quiet and effective. Learn more at Air Oasis.

www.airoasis.com

 

[chicago]

Haha. Funny. I have these also. And they look to be similar.

 

[wmchaseb]

My tank smelled bad when I had Dino’s that’s for sure

 

[Mrtakeoff53]

Been doing this reef thing for over 20 years and had fish tanks for nearly 30. When setting up a new tank, I can tell it’s maturing because the smell of the water changes and it has the slightly sweet saltwater smell to it.

My current tank I set-up in November 2022. I used all live rock from my previous tank that was 3.5 years old. Had plenty of good bacteria, sponges, coralline algae and life in it. However, my wife constantly complained about the smell. I could take the woman bird hunting and she’d do better than a lab, I swear. However, lately the complaints have subsided. I noticed the tank seemed to be maturing visually (getting through the uglies, corals growing, different film algae growing, ect). This morning I gave the tank a top down view when my pumps were in feed mode and I got a whiff of that mature saltwater tank smell. It’s slightly sweet and has a resemblance to tropical beaches. I love it! With experience, I believe you can use the smell of your reef as an additional indicator of overall health.