How would you describe your fish tank smell?

[darkcat]

How would you describe your fish tank smell? It smells good, bad, etc.

 

[Fishkeeper25]

smells like fish

 

[BigManAquatics]

Slight fishy smell but not much. Would smell a bit more like a lake, but the fish and snails keep the algae to a pretty bare minimum.

 

[Fishkeeper25]

yeah mine smells good of course wouldn't just sniff the water everyday just like aah this smells amazing my fish would give me funny looks.

 

[darkcat]

When I go near the lid, it smells like peach lol. My betta's like: what are you doing.

 

[FoldedCheese]

Kind of earthy?

 

[Kathylee]

How would you describe your fish tank smell? It smells good, bad, etc.

Warm, Woodsy, Earthy.

When I open my 20g Molly Lid, there's a water sprite floating & guppy grass- so it smells very;
Sweet, Grassy, earthy, woodsy.
The water floating Sprite has it's own Fresh sweet-plant like aroma, and makes the whole tank smell nice!
(Edit; I have cleaned out filters that smelt like rotting vegetables before though, like a bad organics/compost smell-- so good & bad smells!)

 

[LHAquatics]

Doesn't chemical filtration remove that smell?

 

[Dechi]

Cat pee...

It’s overstocked and I need a bigger filter. I also can’t use carbon long term because it‘s been known to harm cichlids.

 

[Leilio]

earthy, smell like soil

 

[Kathylee]

Cat pee...

It’s overstocked and I need a bigger filter. I also can’t use carbon long term because it‘s been known to harm cichlids.

Cat pee, that's like an ammonia-smell? I just started adding Purigen pre-bags to mine (well on one tank) & it's supposed to help remove excess organics, maybe something similar might help? Like I said I Just started trying it out, well see how it works in the long run. Im really understocked right now though.

 

[Hellfishguy]

Floating water sprite gives off a slightly minty aroma Healthy tanks should smell earthy & pleasant.

 

[WagglePets]

Mine for a bit smelled disgusting but the Issue solved itself and now it smells like other people have said earthy like a lake

 

[StarGirl]

I can't smell. So nothing. It works great for all the smelly stuff you guys talk about!!!! My husband doesn't say it smells so its all good.

 

[Kribensis27]

Kinda earthy, just barely fishy, and also a little bit.... spicy? Kinda cinnamon-like? Not exactly though. like what a lot of tannins smell like.

 

[WagglePets]

Mine for a bit smelled disgusting but the Issue solved itself and now it smells like other people have said earthy like a lake

it smelled like sewage actually lol

 

[KribensisLover1]

SO Hard to tell Bc I’m there all the time. So I don’t get a smell. Only after a water change I smell sulfur from prime OR if I leave food open but besides that I can’t smell it. I don’t have carbon in right now but doesn’t seem to cause it to smell more.

 

[Broggy]

normal...i guess. god forbid fish food fall onto the rim of the tank and get soggy. it makes me want to gag

 

[fish 321]

I smelled my saltwater tank once and I regretted it. It smelled like a really pungent ocean, probably because it is one.

 

[bumblinBee]

I use vinegar to clean the calcium off the edges of my tank rims every so often. So I've no idea what my tanks smell like, all I get is a vague whiff of vinegar.

 

[fishnovice33]

Smells similar to going outside after a rainfall on a hot summer day.

 

[tapwater]

Smells similar to going outside after a rainfall on a hot summer day.

Mine smells similar, but with some added notes of "earthy" scent

 

[Leeman75]

Smells similar to going outside after a rainfall on a hot summer day.

I think that's about as accurate of a description as I've found. I really like the smell of my water when doing water changes. I've wondered if that's weird. What I DON'T like is the smell of my towels if I forget to wash them after the WC!

 

[SallImSayin]

The corydora and tetra tank and the kuhli and tetra tank? Nothingness + humidity, when I open the lid. There's zero fish smell, if someone were to sniff, they'd only know they were sniffing something wet.

The goldfish tank regularly? Hm..it has more of a smell to it. Every blue moon it'll get a fishy smell and I'll smell carbon, otherwise it smells kind of humid + an outdoorsy plant smell, which is odd, because it has the least amount of plants. That's just the smell it has. That random fishy smell I get rid of asap whenever it happens in that one tank. Sometimes you get dead plant matter or something in the filter, too, which can cause that. But normally like nothing or , at most, outdoorsy where there are plants and flowers about.

 

[Skrabbitskrabbit]

Like you’re inside a cave
(Earthy but wetter)

 

[EntirelyEm]

Smells similar to going outside after a rainfall on a hot summer day.

that sounds so nice omg
mine smells like primafix right now

 

[GlennO]

Earthy with a hint of sardine.

 

[photoman54]

How would you describe your fish tank smell? It smells good, bad, etc.

Has a nice odor similar to a day at a lake. Fresh and clean.

 

[carsonsgjs]

My girlfriend once opened the lid on my main tank and said she was, in her words, expecting it to smell like a stinking fish market. She was pleasantly surprised that it didnt really smell of anything.

 

[Cheesecake]

They smell like water lol.

 

[Redviper]

Fresh and sweet most of the time. The only time it changes to something mildly funky is when I cycle in a virgin filter, which I've had to do twice in the last 6-months. It's not like dead body funky, but it's easy to pick up in close.

 

[thatguywhohasfish]

I have a betta home and it kinda smells like a tiny lake I guess. And it kinda looks like the bottom of a lake with the indian almond leaf I have in there. I don't hate the smell but I wouldn't make a candle out of it lol

 

[Cheesecake]

I love how the weird denizens of FL are talking about strange unrelated things to this thread and the normal people are just ignoring us. Don't worry, we don't bite (most of the time).

My turtle's tank can get stanky sometimes.

 

[thatguywhohasfish]

I love how the weird denizens of FL are talking about strange unrelated things to this thread and the normal people are just ignoring us. Don't worry, we don't bite (most of the time).

My turtle's tank can get stanky sometimes.

I'm a Texas boy, but I lived in Florida until I was 10 years old so I relate with the craziness. I think the diverseness of the responses adds to the uniqueness of the fish lore community. You don't have to be crazy to be a member of fish lore, but it definitely helps! Lol.

 

[SouthAmericanCichlids]

I can barely smell mine. But when there is a dead fish, I know there is one if I'm in that room (With a lid on), luckily this has only happened once.

Well at least in that particular tank.

 

[NotSoAggressiveAquatics]

This sounds a bit insane but mine smells like water

 

[Pfrozen]

This sounds a bit insane but mine smells like water

Honestly, mine too lol. I was having trouble with odors and surface biofilm for awhile but I found out that my spider plant had completed melted inside one of my filters. The actual plant was fine but somehow the roots had turned into a brick of foul mold-like gunk. All is well now lol

 

[AcornTheBetta]

Kind of earthy?

Agreed. It smells earthy and like plant leaves

 

[mrsP]

Just.... water. Like the smell you get when you're on beach of large lake, and breeze comes from the lake. Nice, fresh, just water with hint of plants there.

 

[Ouse]

My cichlid tank smells dusty whenever I feed the fish in there Hikari Massivore Delite pellets. I generally like the warm, mildly stinky scent of fish tanks.

 

[MacZ]

I once compared it to the smell of a freshly dug grave. And I stand by my statement.

 

[AnsWolf]

My tanks don't have a smell- but when I break them down it smells like a lake (wet, algae)

 

[DoraCory]

An earthy wet kind of smell, except for 1 tank that has blue-green algae, that one doesn't smell too nice tbh.

 

[Kellye8498]

Fishy and earthy.

 

[tapwater]

I once compared it to the smell of a freshly dug grave. And I stand by my statement.

What does a freshly dug grave smell like? Is it just a dirt smell?

 

[Andres391]

How would you describe your fish tank smell? It smells good, bad, etc.

Mine smells earthy and I have no soil in my tank just plants that are glued to lava rocks, Hornwort floating on side and deep gravel rocks im thinking it maybe that my tank is clean lol

 

[MacZ]

What does a freshly dug grave smell like? Is it just a dirt smell?

Humid and rich humus.

 

[WRWAquarium]

I'd go with a kind of lake smell for the angel community. The axolotol tank smells like earthworms pretty strong

 

[SpeedyFish]

Mine smells like a new bag of potted soil

 

[Ghostly]

well my tank with tannins remind me of tea and the other ones not really anything lol.