That smell.

[GillMeister]

My spouse, AKA the Minister of War, has declared the house smells wrong now that my reef has been running for a couple months. She wants it fixed. I think she forgets that my old one didn't smell great either.

I'd installed a vent above the tank but it's not doing enough, unfortunately. Any suggestions to eliminate the problem. That's not a loaded question. Eliminating my Wife isn't an option.

 

[Cment]

My spouse, AKA the Minister of War, has declared the house smells wrong now that my reef has been running for a couple months. She wants it fixed. I think she forgets that my old one didn't smell great either.

I'd installed a vent above the tank but it's not doing enough, unfortunately. Any suggestions to eliminate the problem. That's not a loaded question. Eliminating my Wife isn't an option.

my wife is the same way....she walks in....something doesn't smell right, is it your tank?! LOL its always the tank in her eyes. Where is the tank located? Are you running carbon, how often do you change it? If your skimmer is located under the tank try placing a carbon pad over the collection cup.

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Are you removing the skimmate out of the skimmer regularly? that was the cause of my M.O.W. declaring the tank a foreign adversary...

 

[ReefRy]

+1 on carbon. It really helps.

 

[Pistondog]

my wife is the same way....she walks in....something doesn't smell right, is it your tank?! LOL its always the tank in her eyes. Where is the tank located? Are you running carbon, how often do you change it? If your skimmer is located under the tank try placing a carbon pad over the collection cup.

If its skimmate, look into aclosed collection vessel.
If water, maybe try gac or ozone?
Or point at the cat.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

I just burn wax or essential oils. Never bothered my stuff. I’ve heard Carbon helps.

 

[furyofthegnomes]

Been in your shoes before, carbon helped some. I emptied the skimmer cup every few days and helped a little. I also did a deep clean of my refugium I think I may have had a lot of detritus sitting in it making it funky. I started to look into ozone but never pulled the trigger as the amount of her complaining lessened.

 

[piranhaman00]

Charcoal odor absorbers work for me

 

[Rjukan]

Carbon, makes a big difference and I'm not even running it in a reactor.

 

[BackToTheReef]

My spouse, AKA the Minister of War, has declared the house smells wrong now that my reef has been running for a couple months. She wants it fixed. I think she forgets that my old one didn't smell great either.

I'd installed a vent above the tank but it's not doing enough, unfortunately. Any suggestions to eliminate the problem. That's not a loaded question. Eliminating my Wife isn't an option.

Look into an ERV or HRV. They will draw air from your house and replace it with fresh air. You can set it up in a way to create a small negative pressure near or behind the tank and positive pressure in front of the tank. That way it creates a small current. Your "stale tank air" will be drawn out and fresh air will be pushed into the living spaces.

Great for indoor air quality in general but also for tanks. I am going to have an ERV draw air from the fish room and fresh air will be pushed into the space in front of the DT. Any potential odors will be drawn away from the living space.

(Sorry if this is clear as mud)

Another upside this also lowers the CO2 in the house.

 

[GillMeister]

This is a lot if great feedback. I have a whole house air exchanger. I might have to take it off automatic and just leave it on all the time.

Where do I place the carbon?

 

[GillMeister]

Are you removing the skimmate out of the skimmer regularly? that was the cause of my M.O.W. declaring the tank a foreign adversary...

Every other day. And this little skimmer works because it pulls a ton of stank out of the tank.

 

[Cment]

Add a bag to your sump it will really help. I replace every 3-4 weeks. I also use a carbon pad like this on top of the collection cup and replace it at the same frequency.

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/imagitarium-carbon-filter-media-10-x-18-2461775?cm_mmc=PSH-_-GGL-_-CAL-_-PME-_-PET-_-AQU-_-0-_-PM_GGL_FY20_SBU05_PrivateLabel-Imagitarium_PLA-SMRT-_-0-_-0&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImIGSifHf6wIVC9bACh1GZgXMEAQYASABEgIuWPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[GillMeister]

Add a bag to your sump it will really help. I replace every 3-4 weeks. I also use a carbon pad like this on top of the collection cup and replace it at the same frequency.

Perfect! Thanks!

 

[hotdogmj71]

If its skimmate, look into a closed collection vessel.

Add a bag to your sump it will really help. I replace every 3-4 weeks. .

Both of these at my house. I've not had a complaint since.
My wife got me this one a few years back for Christmas. She said it was smelling the room up when the skimmer cup was emptied. Now I only empty the collector about 3 times a year!

Search Results Template - Bulk Reef Supply

aquarium.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[vetteguy53081]

Agree on carbon. A few flowers should also help with odor and give her a hint :

 

[DSEKULA]

I just did dr tims gha program and noticed that the bottle of refresh says it revitalizes old smelly brown water. I never noticed a tank smell and hubby never complained he says the basement where the sump is smells like the ocean and enjoys it tho lol.. but this did work for my algae issue and is advertised to work for smells so maybe add it to the list of things to try is something simple like gac isnt enough.

 

[GillMeister]

I set my HRV to constant 'on' and that seems to have made a noticeable difference. Let's see what the M.O.W. says tonight.

 

[HeyJay]

A dehumidifier seems to work for me to remove any odors. My tank is in the basement where I run one anyway, but if it gets turned off the reef smell is definitely more noticeable.

 

[sam2110]

I just blame the 3 cats! I have one tank for every cat my Mrs has! I even blame the outside drain when I forget to add carbon.