Smell coming from tank

[bluecheese]

The past two weeks, after a water change, I've been noticing a smell from the tank. The only way I can describe it is "earthy." Like the loamy smell of dirt... kind of. I am dealing with a diatom outbreak right now, and the smell didn't start until the tank was covered in diatoms. Can that be the source of the smell?

 

[blaxsun]

Entirely possible. I notice that whenever I turn my pumps off for maintenance my tank has an odor (not unpleasant) that isn't there when everything is running.

 

[melonheadorion]

if you dose with bacteria, their bottle says that there may be an earthy smell. not sure if thats the case here, but figured i would aks.
in general, algae's do give an odor, and is ultimately one of the reasons a tank will have a smell, so i wouldnt doubt if its just an algae smell

 

[Lyss]

Agree that algae have an odor -- I get it when I'm pruning my macros or cleaning hair algae off one of my trochus snails' shells. It's earthy and sea-ish at the same time. I def don't notice it with the tank running, and I don't think it's smelling up the tank -- it's just that marine algae has a distinct smell.

 

[bluecheese]

Ok. Thanks for the responses. Once the diatoms burn themselves out, hopefully the smell goes away.

 

[melonheadorion]

Agree that algae have an odor -- I get it when I'm pruning my macros or cleaning hair algae off one of my trochus snails' shells. It's earthy and sea-ish at the same time. I def don't notice it with the tank running, and I don't think it's smelling up the tank -- it's just that marine algae has a distinct smell.

ditto to that. ive been pruning the bushes in my tank as early as just yesterday, and get the same thing

 

[pecan2phat]

I find Dino gives the tank that type of smell.

 

[bluecheese]

I find Dino gives the tank that type of smell.

Good to hear. Thanks.

 

[melonheadorion]

Ok. Thanks for the responses. Once the diatoms burn themselves out, hopefully the smell goes away.

you could always put some activated carbon into your sump/filter to help with smell

 

[bluecheese]

you could always put some activated carbon into your sump/filter to help with smell

I thought about doing that. It isn't a bad smell, just a Nature type smell. Plus I can only smell it when doing a water change. I'm honestly curious to see if its tied to the diatom outbreak, and whether or not it goes away after the diatoms die out.

 

[melonheadorion]

I thought about doing that. It isn't a bad smell, just a Nature type smell. Plus I can only smell it when doing a water change. I'm honestly curious to see if its tied to the diatom outbreak, and whether or not it goes away after the diatoms die out.

i would guarantee thats what its from. smells only come from a few things, so assuming you dont have anything dying, algae such as diatoms is likely to be it. if the smell is bearable, then obviously, i wouldnt worry too much about doing carbon, but keep it in your back pocket just in case you want to do something with the smell

 

[KrisReef]

My skimmer cup is usually the source of novel smells from my tank. I keep a bottle of Microbacter7 on hand and add a few drops if the tank smells "acrid." Do you shut your circulation off during water changes?

 

[Karen00]

I'm dealing with some hair algae. As others have said I find there's a bit of a smell when I turn everything off and more noticeable when I pull it out of the water while doing manual removal. It always reminds me of what the beach smells like when the tide goes out and algae, etc. is exposed to the air. A salty, plants, earthy smell. It takes me right back to my childhood when we lived near a beach. That's probably what you're smelling. I run carbon so I'm not sure if it would be very noticeable without the carbon. When everything is running I just smell the salt if I put my nose right over the tank. I don't use a skimmer so have none of those smells.

 

[Damage12]

Love that smell!

 

[ZoWhat]

Nah.... Its probably the...

 

[Lavey29]

I'm dealing with some hair algae. As others have said I find there's a bit of a smell when I turn everything off and more noticeable when I pull it out of the water while doing manual removal. It always reminds me of what the beach smells like when the tide goes out and algae, etc. is exposed to the air. A salty, plants, earthy smell. It takes me right back to my childhood when we lived near a beach. That's probably what you're smelling. I run carbon so I'm not sure if it would be very noticeable without the carbon. When everything is running I just smell the salt if I put my nose right over the tank. I don't use a skimmer so have none of those smells.

So interesting, I'm the same way. Smell is one of the primary ways I gauze the health of my tank. If it smells like the ocean then I know everything is fine. Any strange odors make me search for the source.

 

[Karen00]

So interesting, I'm the same way. Smell is one of the primary ways I gauze the health of my tank. If it smells like the ocean then I know everything is fine. Any strange odors make me search for the source.

Exactly and because I don't have anything like a sump, skimmer, fuge, etc if my tank smells odd in any way I know it's coming from there. I also just read on my bottle of Microbacter Start XLM that dosing it can make the tank smell earthy. There was another thread about Microbacter regarding something totally different so I thought I would reread the directions on my bottle. I totally missed the "earthy" part when I got the bottle so maybe this is what some people are smelling. Add that to the list along with sump, skimmer, algae, etc.

 

[mindme]

Plus I can only smell it when doing a water change.

It's algae that is out of the water. When it's under water you don't smell anything, but when it gets out of water, you can really smell it. So you are lowering the water level and exposing algae to air most likely.

 

[Cory]

The past two weeks, after a water change, I've been noticing a smell from the tank. The only way I can describe it is "earthy." Like the loamy smell of dirt... kind of. I am dealing with a diatom outbreak right now, and the smell didn't start until the tank was covered in diatoms. Can that be the source of the smell?

Dinoflagelets smell like rotting cabbage and look similar to diatoms.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Wcs will only add silicate and feed Dino
D