What is the Smelliest part of owning a SW tank?

[Zack K]

When it comes to Tank odors, everyone has their favorite and not so favorite smells.

Today (I am ashamed of it) I cleaned out a 1month old Biopellet reactor. Usually when I do my clean when I change out the pellets it smells but not much worse than the skimmer. Well, I took the Biopellets off line shortly after the last time I cleaned it. Due to a busy schedule I just now got around to cleaning it. Smelled worse than anything I have smelt out of my tank.

So what is your smelliest encounter with your tank?

 

[Duraticate]

If i can smell my tank something is wrong. Specially since my sniffer is not very good. Lol but skimmer being the smelliest

 

[Roy 9121]

Probably the protein skimmer water.

 

[abecker]

+1 for skimmate

 

[ncaldwell]

I had a biopellet reactor offline for a couple days before I cleaned it out and it was by far the worst smell that could ever possibly come out of a tank. Anaerobic bacteria is absolutely awful

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Skimmer cup...

 

[Murica]

Taking out snail shells while finding out that the dead snail is still inside.

 

[Roy 9121]

I had a biopellet reactor offline for a couple days before I cleaned it out and it was by far the worst smell that could ever possibly come out of a tank. Anaerobic bacteria is absolutely awful

I just threw my biopellet reactor away, but before I got it to the trash can, I dropped it and it broke open. You're right, it was horrible.

 

[Bronx19]

Honestly I never get any terrible smells out of my tank.

I don't know about you guys, when I put my nose to the surface of my tank I love that organic water smell. It reminds me of walking into a large fish store back when I was a kid.

 

[Reefrookie220]

Throw some dry rock in a barrel of saltwater, wait 24hrs then walk in your garage. Ewww

 

[Katrina71]

Empty a 9 year old boy's clothes hamper in the summertime. The tank will smell like roses compared to that.

 

[Chalice Kingdom]

Dead anemone

 

[Reefrookie220]

Real men stink! It's natural, raunchy, but natural.

 

[Forsaken77]

I have my skimmate going to a Reef Octopus Waste Collector that has a container of carbon on top to absorb the odors. So I never smell skimmate. The worst smell to me is after I clean algae off the glass. Frigin algae stinks.

 

[azbigjohn]

Other than a bubble-tip anemone that died on me a couple years ago in a 29 gallon tank (when I went to remove it BOOM!!!... I can still smell it) I would say consistently it is emptying my skimmer cup. Due to using a slightly too tall sump, space is tight getting it out from under the cabinet, and I invariably knock the lid off right as it gets under my nose....

 

[Zack K]

Looks like lots of Skimmers. Can’t say that surprises me. They do smell pretty nasty. I never though if the anemone, I bet that would smell pretty awful!

 

[foxt]

Dead sponges can smell pretty bad too.

But hands down, the stench of the skimmer cup tops them all. Mine is in the basement, and when I empty it, even when I am careful about taking it outside to dump it, the smell makes it's way upstairs, and I get funny looks from the wife and kid ...

 

[K. Steven]

Expired Mexican turbos. You think they're just sleeping, but they're just fermenting bombs waiting to go off when you take them out of the water.

 

[Fudsey]

A sulfur denitrator that was left off for a week.... OMG so much worse than any skimmate I have smelled.

 

[zsuzsu]

when the whole country lost power a few years ago, i had no power for 6 days, that wiped me out, picture a grown in 36x36x25 all sps with a 100 gal sump/refugium after no power in the summer for 6 days. i couldnt even get gas for the generator because you couldnt get gas period, anyway i just closed the door to the basement reef room for 4 yrs.... literally. can you smell that?