Do you ever smell your skimmer and does it stink?

[bnord]

"I love the smell of skimate in the morning... smells like victory..."

 

[bnord]

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

yup!

 

[bnord]

Boy do I ever catch it from the wife when I empty my two skimmers it can stink up the whole house before I can get a lid on the bucket.
Jeff

mine gets upset when I bring the cups up to fertilize her orchids on the kitchen window sill... can't understand somethings sometimes

 

[bnord]

so let me go out on a limb here.

Whenever I take a taste of a diet soda, the aftertaste is so freaking nasty that I can only rationalize that for the folks (like my family members) that drink it daily must have had those chemoreceptors in their tongues overloaded and masked by regular and repeated exposures, otherwise how could they stand the taste that I taste.

Might be the same for those who say doesn't really bother them (like me). Folks, if it is a rich, thick, 2-4 day old skimmate, so thick that it coats the neck, it smells. May not seep into the room, but it smells. if you don't notice it, might be the diet cola phenomenon.

Of course that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Of course, as they say in the commercial, I may be nose blind!

 

[MakeSomeWaffles]

I once dumped my skimmer cup into the bathroom vanity sink and it blocked the drain and left the most disgusting residue all over it.

Mrs almost took my head off lol

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Of course, as they say in the commercial, I may be nose blind!

Right! that's a big worry for me having my tank in the living room. I'm always asking close friends "Do you smell anything?". In college I dated a girl who's friend had like 4 poodles in her house that urinated everywhere. When you first walked in, the small of urine was like hitting a wall of ammonia!! but no one who lived in the house would bat an eyelash because they were all nose blind to it!

 

[hardcorefishhead]

Yes, you must take in the aroma of "tank wine" to make sure the skimmer is working.

I definately smell my skimmer as soon as I walk in the room. I recently started putting a little carbon in the skimmer cup which seems to help, I also ordered the "StinkSink" from ReefEco.

 

[NinjaSushi]

Maybe my tank is still young but my skimmers don't stink. Perhaps I'm over skimming.

 

[Borat]

I never smell the skimmer because... I don't have one!

 

[takitaj]

Never any smell until I open it up to dump/clean it, then oh boy! I run a recirculating Co2 scrubber that takes care of most of it and a bag of bituminous carbon sets on top for anything that sneaks by. She never was squeamish with smells but my wife had a very mild case of Covid last year (we think) and her olfactory system hasn't worked well since. So I'm in the clear

 

[reaper93]

Nope! I don't have a skimmer

 

[McPuff]

My skimmer doesn't smell until I dump it out. Today was particularly pungent and made my entire basement stink for about an hour... or maybe I'm just used to it now.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Depends on how much I feed tank but yeah it can unleash the dank stank of nutrient export.

 

[HBtank]

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

Exactly the same with me. Skimmer works superb, and always has, but even with thick baby poop looking material pulled out of the neck and cup at every cleaning, no smell. The larger collection reservoir draining from the cup might smell slightly when emptied into the toilet, but nothing special. I think it probably has to do with whatever microbial ecosystem is in a tank.

 

[glency]

I just leave a bag of carbon to cover the vent holes. I know when I’ve forgotten to put it on or the carbon expires.

 

[glency]

Right! that's a big worry for me having my tank in the living room. I'm always asking close friends "Do you smell anything?". In college I dated a girl who's friend had like 4 poodles in her house that urinated everywhere. When you first walked in, the small of urine was like hitting a wall of ammonia!! but no one who lived in the house would bat an eyelash because they were all nose blind to it!

“Sensory adaptation”

 

[CoralB]

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

Yah that’s bad !!!

 

[Karen00]

so let me go out on a limb here.

Whenever I take a taste of a diet soda, the aftertaste is so freaking nasty that I can only rationalize that for the folks (like my family members) that drink it daily must have had those chemoreceptors in their tongues overloaded and masked by regular and repeated exposures, otherwise how could they stand the taste that I taste.

Might be the same for those who say doesn't really bother them (like me). Folks, if it is a rich, thick, 2-4 day old skimmate, so thick that it coats the neck, it smells. May not seep into the room, but it smells. if you don't notice it, might be the diet cola phenomenon.

Of course that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong

It's well known that a lot of people experience a nasty after taste with aspartame which is in most diet sodas. My father was the same. He would always say he would be left with a wretched after taste. He also couldn't eat frozen vegetables. He kept saying they left a really bad taste in his mouth. Supposedly a lot of people experience a nasty flavour with both diet soda and frozen vegetables. They're linked somehow with some people.

Maybe people who can't smell skimmate all share the same type of nasal receptors. I think there should be a study done.

 

[October Sky]

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

The question is poorly phrased.

Do you ever smell your skimmer and does it stink?​

Do I ever smell it? Well when I clean it out I can't help but catch a whiff, but it's not like I'm done there nose-****** it. Does it stink? Every time I catch a whiff, but, again, it's not like I'm down there shoving my nose in it.

I just emptied mine last night, about 1/2 full, and it stunk, as it's rotting decaying matter. But a mis-calculation after a water change caused it to fill up overnight, and that wasn't as stinky, as it was mainly wet skimmate. The dry stuff I aim for is nasty.

EDIT: I would note I didn't use a curse word, I tried to take the higher ground and used e f f i n g. I didn't realize the filter would catch that. Sorry to all involved.