Kessil

Can you smell a healthy tank?

Can _you_ smell a healthy tank

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 50.0%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Wtf?

    Votes: 3 50.0%

  • Total voters
    6

richiev

Supporting Member
This is a weird topic that I just realized I never asked anyone else before. I've had aquariums on and off since high school, which was... too long ago now. At one point in college I realized I could from smell have a pretty good read on if a tank was doing well or not. That included the random freshwater tanks I had, to more importantly the LFS I'd visit. Almost immediately when walking through a LFS that was questionable I could get whiffs of what I consider unhealthy tank smell (somewhat stringent, maybe remnants of ammonia, but generally just a specific smell).

When I brought this up to my then partner, now wife, she thought I was crazy. I've always gone back and forth on if I was crazy or not. However, having recently catapulted from 0 tanks to 3, I'm now pretty confident I can smell when something is off. I'm not going to be doing nasal Ca tests, but I am pretty sure I can tell if a nutrient cycle is off.

Do others feel this way too? Am I crazy? Again I've just now realized I've never brought this up before, beyond I think to my wife and maybe back in the day to another aquarist (I think he thought I was weird too), so I'm really curious others reaction.
 
The way you worded the title and poll “Can you smell a healthy tank?” I would answer No, because healthy tanks don’t have a smell. But unhealthy ones do, which I think is what you are actually asking.

I can definitely smell when some things are off, even when nothing is visibly or otherwise detectably wrong. Mostly if things are dying (even tiny things you wouldn’t think about) but other things smell too. I take it seriously and act on it when it happens.

I don’t think you’re crazy.
 
I can definitely smell when ammonia is high in my friends freshwater tanks! Really depends on individuals senses though like hearing. I've never smelled high ammonia in my saltwater tanks just the ocean . But soaking/cooking rocks in the garage for a while sometimes gives off ammonia smells at first at times
 
I apparently need to rephrase the question. The intent was asking if by smell you feel you can gauge the healthiness of a tank, or set of them. It sounds like the consensus is "yes". I'll go with "I'm not crazy" as the outcome
 
My tanks at home? I doubt I would be able to smell a difference.

When I worked at a fish store and walked into the filtration room (4 walls of tanks facing outward with filtration and equipment inside) I could smell when something was off and had to track down which system it was. That was thousand of gallons in a confined space though.
 
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