The smelliest smell!

[Red_Beard]

Woof! What is the funkiest thing you’ve ever had tickle the olfactory senses!? Something that really curled your nose hairs?

For me it was just a bit ago. I am a few months in to my new tank, it started getting what I thought was cyano but after pondering and no3/po4 tests are bottomed out I’m thinking may be dino. Anyways, I put in some filter socks and microbubbled the tank and went after it with a scrub brush last night. After stuff cleared, about 10 pm or so I pulled the socks out and put them in a bowl of tap water. I think it is way easier to clean them if they haven’t dried out and I wanted to go to bed. I forgot about the bowl until about an hour ago, 4 pm... Smelled like week old dead snail mixed with skimmate and burned hair somehow. Pretty rough!

 

[lapin]

dead whale on beach

 

[Red_Beard]

Gross dude! That would be rough!

 

[ADAM]

Well I’m not sure how rottingly death smelling compared to yours it is, but what I found to be utterly breathtaking (like literally takes you breath) is carbon with some detritus mixed in that has been left in a reactor for a several days after use. Second time I forgot to empty the reactor I went ahead and filled it with hydrogen peroxide to try and kill the smell, after soaking a half hour I still had to vinegar bath the reactor body to get the odor out.

 

[Pablopufferfish]

For worst thing I’ve ever smelled.
The stench of the corpse flower. Yes, it does smell like a rotting corpse.

Reef related worst smell.
Smelling a dead hermit crab that has been rotting for a day.

 

[monti mike]

For me it’s when saltwater got into an outlet... Hope I never smell that again... *knocks on wood*

 

[Red_Beard]

Well I’m not sure how rottingly death smelling compared to yours it is, but what I found to be utterly breathtaking (like literally takes you breath) is carbon with some detritus mixed in that has been left in a reactor for a several days after use. Second time I forgot to empty the reactor I went ahead and filled it with hydrogen peroxide to try and kill the smell, after soaking a half hour I still had to vinegar bath the reactor body to get the odor out.

Oogh, that is pretty bad!

 

[dohc97]

Original oil on a supercharger that had about 120k miles and had noisy bearings. The stench was horrible as soon as I opened the fill plug, it actually stuck to my clothes and skin, I smelled like that for like 2 days

 

[Red_Beard]

I should have added ‘reefing related stank’. Worst thing I’ve smelled EVER was doing HVACR the butcher shop’s in-edibles(guts,heads,hooves,etc) walk in cooler went down in the summer (gets over 100f here) working in there I had to fix a leak using a torch and must not have had it completely empty. It burned a little refrigerant(creates some toxic nasty stuff) THAT took my breath away.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Woof! What is the funkiest thing you’ve ever had tickle the olfactory senses!? Something that really curled your nose hairs?

For me it was just a bit ago. I am a few months in to my new tank, it started getting what I thought was cyano but after pondering and no3/po4 tests are bottomed out I’m thinking may be dino. Anyways, I put in some filter socks and microbubbled the tank and went after it with a scrub brush last night. After stuff cleared, about 10 pm or so I pulled the socks out and put them in a bowl of tap water. I think it is way easier to clean them if they haven’t dried out and I wanted to go to bed. I forgot about the bowl until about an hour ago, 4 pm... Smelled like week old dead snail mixed with skimmate and burned hair somehow. Pretty rough!

When wife wakes up in morning, and hasn't brush her teeth, reminded me of skimmate from skimmer.....bummer

 

[lpsouth1978]

Worst reef related smell? Hands down the smell of a dead and rotting Clam or Anemone!!! I can't imagine a worse stench in this hobby.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I should have added ‘reefing related stank’. Worst thing I’ve smelled EVER was doing HVACR the butcher shop’s in-edibles(guts,heads,hooves,etc) walk in cooler went down in the summer (gets over 100f here) working in there I had to fix a leak using a torch and must not have had it completely empty. It burned a little refrigerant(creates some toxic nasty stuff) THAT took my breath away.

Phosgene, I think it's called. Refrigant burn off?

 

[ROB2005]

When I attempted to drink from this cup...........

 

[Red_Beard]

trying to picture some of these smells is hilarious! Lol

Phosgene, I think it's called. Refrigant burn off?

yes that is correct. It is sad too because it turns the flame this beautiful rich purple. But it will mess you up something fierce...

 

[dohc97]

Worse would be a piece of clam that got stuck in an undergravel filter plate for about a week

 

[Red_Beard]

Worst reef related smell? Hands down the smell of a dead and rotting Clam or Anemone!!! I can't imagine a worse stench in this hobby.

Worse would be a piece of clam that got stuck in an undergravel filter plate for about a week

Havent had one yet, but sounds like dead clam is pretty bad. And rotting ones even more so!

 

[ADAM]

I should have added ‘reefing related stank’. Worst thing I’ve smelled EVER was doing HVACR the butcher shop’s in-edibles(guts,heads,hooves,etc) walk in cooler went down in the summer (gets over 100f here) working in there I had to fix a leak using a torch and must not have had it completely empty. It burned a little refrigerant(creates some toxic nasty stuff) THAT took my breath away.

Aww man, nothing quite like hanging over the side of a piece of equipment to solder a compressor or accumulator and burning some R-22.... vapors are horrendous and they’re heavy than air making you suffocate for a few seconds. I quit breaking the joints on the old parts with the torch for that reason!

 

[Red_Beard]

Aww man, nothing quite like hanging over the side of a piece of equipment to solder a compressor or accumulator and burning some R-22.... vapors are horrendous and they’re heavy than air making you suffocate for a few seconds. I quit breaking the joints on the old parts with the torch for that reason!

Lol I know right! That acrid nasty stuff, suffocate and cough and feel like your airway is going to melt. Reach-in evaporators were the worst. I carried around a mini pipe cutter in my pocket for that very reason.

 

[Sailingeric]

dead whale on beach

Here in Oregon we got you covered

 

[IndianaReefer]

Had a torch die and I took it out and put it in one of those specimen cups. Sat it on my shelf and went on doing what I was doing with the tank and forgot I had sat it there. I had put the lid on, so when I forgot, I never smelled it. Opened it a few days ago thinking it was an empty cup. Worst smell ever for me. It evacuated my entire house for hours. We had to open windows and put fans in rooms to get the stench out.