Do you ever smell your skimmer and does it stink?

jhuntstl · Jul 7, 2022

Tunze 9415 and yes it stinks! I know when its nearing full because I'll smell it when I walk in the front door....and it's in the basement!

redfishbluefish · Jul 7, 2022

I've only intentionally smelt it once when a past thread on skimmate smell, someone stated that it smelt like flowers. However, every time I empty my skimmate container I can't avoid smelling that stench. I dump the approximate gallon of stink down the toilet.

Miami Reef · Jul 7, 2022

ying yang said:
Got nasal polyps so cant smell a thing lol,on waiting list to get them surgically removed so maybe after this I can give you an answer lol.
Side note,not only corals have polyps, even humans can get them ha ha

That’s disgusting lol.

Grill · Jul 7, 2022

Place a scented dryer sheet on top.

djf91 · Jul 7, 2022

I actually don’t think it smells that bad at all. Kind of an earthy/ nitrogen/ sea foam smell….always smelled that way for the past 20 years.

djf91 · Jul 7, 2022

One thing that smells absolutely awful, that you wouldn’t think would smell that bad, is day old nori left in the algae clip.

Karen00 · Jul 7, 2022

ying yang said:
Got nasal polyps so cant smell a thing lol,on waiting list to get them surgically removed so maybe after this I can give you an answer lol.
Side note,not only corals have polyps, even humans can get them ha ha

You'll probably wish you still couldn't smell the skimmer. Wouldn't it be nice if they could do selective surgery? Yes, I want to be able to smell the flowers. No, I don't want to be able to smell my skimmer. ;-)

Crustaceon · Jul 7, 2022

I only notice it when I put my return pump on feed mode to do a water change and forget to turn the skimmer off... which promptly causes it to overflow and dump the skimmer cup contents directly into the sump. ‍

Crustaceon · Jul 7, 2022

Also, there is no worse smell in this hobby or anything else in this world for that matter than decomposing snail.

Karen00 · Jul 7, 2022

I answered "other" because I don't have a skimmer. The only thing I smell is the earthy/watery aroma of the ocean and even then I have to stick my nose in my tank to smell that. Surprisingly that ocean smell is relaxing in a strange sort of way. Thank goodness I don't have any toxic corals that would make sniffing my tank potentially dangerous.

ABQ_CHRIS · Jul 7, 2022

I haven't turned my skimmer on yet. Here's hoping it won't be smelly!

reefah · Jul 7, 2022

I typically only smell the stench when I forget to empty my skimmer cup and it starts to bubble over.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 7, 2022

Now that you mention, mine does not, even when I clean the neck and cup it’s however poop looking lol

Patientman · Jul 7, 2022

I place a pond carbon filter pad on the lid of mine! Seems to do the trick … and the wife is VERY happy with the results!

Treefer32 · Jul 7, 2022

I selected other, I have my skimmer cup drain hose hooked up. I drain it into a small container with the optical sensor hooked up so if the container gets full it shuts down the skimmer. I empty that container into a 5 gallon bucket. Now, removing the lid to the 5 gallon bucket half full of month old skimmate.... Now that reeks. I actually think I see the water boiling / moving.... I assume from bacterial activity. I don't honestly know and don't want to know! I've got 10 gallons of skimmate I was thinking of dumping on the lawn or flowers or something outside.. Unsure if the salt will kill them though.

EugeneVan · Jul 7, 2022

Don't get me started.....

At least I know my skimmer work well

ying yang · Jul 7, 2022

Miami Reef said:
That’s disgusting lol.

Yup sure is and like 10 years ir so not being able to smell and snooking all the crud up and chest Infections that come from it and during covid the worse with everyone looking at me as continually blowing nose/runny nose and I'm guessing everyone with way they looked at Mr thought I was a walking covid ticking time bomb carrier lol.but just had cat scan for it and on waiting list which can take upto a year for the surgery apparently so hopefully get them removed sooner rather than later.

On a lighter note,maybe whilst I'm waiting I can grow these polyps and put some swanky designer name on them and charge thousands like I see some these corals going for ha ha

ying yang · Jul 7, 2022

Karen00 said:
You'll probably wish you still couldn't smell the skimmer. Wouldn't it be nice if they could do selective surgery? Yes, I want to be able to smell the flowers. No, I don't want to be able to smell my skimmer. ;-)

Yeah would be nice if everyone smelt of roses ha ha,whatever they smell like idk as been so long not smelling nothing pffft

Karen00 · Jul 7, 2022

Treefer32 said:
I selected other, I have my skimmer cup drain hose hooked up. I drain it into a small container with the optical sensor hooked up so if the container gets full it shuts down the skimmer. I empty that container into a 5 gallon bucket. Now, removing the lid to the 5 gallon bucket half full of month old skimmate.... Now that reeks. I actually think I see the water boiling / moving.... I assume from bacterial activity. I don't honestly know and don't want to know! I've got 10 gallons of skimmate I was thinking of dumping on the lawn or flowers or something outside.. Unsure if the salt will kill them though.

The salt will kill them which is too bad because other things like magnesium, etc. is good for plants in moderate amounts. I only have a 5g so my water changes aren't that much so I dump the old water in my garden but I follow that up with a freshwater rinse to dilute the salt and I never pour it in the same spot each time.