Do You Smell?

[Ulu]

Every day?



Nooooo! The aquarium!

Every morning I smell my tanks.
Every one.

Then the worst one gets the first water change.
After that I might or might not test water on any particular tank, while draining the first, but the first step is to smell the water and the filter or sump of each tank. Later I might break out the TDS meter, depending on what else I smelled.

But that is my MO. The one that smells worst gets water immediately. I'll often save a sample first for a test, but I usually decide how much to change that first one based on smell.

 

[tlindsey]

Every day?



Nooooo! The aquarium!

Every morning I smell my tanks.
Every one.

Then the worst one gets the first water change.
After that I might or might not test water on any particular tank, while draining the first, but the first step is to smell the water and the filter or sump of each tank. Later I might break out the TDS meter, depending on what else I smelled.

But that is my MO. The one that smells worst gets water immediately. I'll often save a sample first for a test, but I usually decide how much to change that first one based on smell.

I just give my filter materials a wiff during wc's. Normally smell a slight earthy or like wood in a coupe of setups.

 

[PYRU]

Yep when everyone is in bed I sniff. If it doesn't smell like rain water it gets changed.

I've switched to every other day small changes vs 1 big one per week. I've become really anal about wc's the older I get.

 

[Ulu]

I just give my filter materials a wiff during wc's. Normally smell a slight earthy or like wood in a coupe of setups.

Well I forgot about this thread three years ago but you finally get a reply.

That’s what I’m normally looking for.

The thing is if I smell the top water, and it stinks a little, I’ve normally got a dead fish overnight.

This has become more difficult since I started keeping salt water. I don’t have a good experience on how it should smell.
But it’s right on the edge and so I’m doing lots of water changing on that system. I have not had any dead fish come to light since I separated the Monos and the Mollies.

They were OK while the monos were tiny. But now now the six of them could kill my whole colony in two days. It’s hard to keep the water this clean with these big fish. (That’s a “straight line” in case any of you want to tell me that my tank is too small.)

 

[esoxlucius]

My water change schedule and feeding regime are that dialled in now I never have the need to smell the actual water, ever.

But without fail on maintanance day when I toss my old filter floss, I'll ring it out and stick my nose in it! That unmistakable smell of earth tells me everything's perfect.

That is the only smell test I do. My main morning checks are looking and listening.

 

[jjohnwm]

I expect my tanks to smell like nice healthy topsoil...and they do. I am always sniffing the room in general when I enter, and each tank individually, looking for that nice "working in the garden" aroma.

Unfortunately, the aroma of wet concrete, indicating that I have become distracted during a water change AGAIN...is another one that I am pretty familiar with.