When you go to a seafood restaurant, you usually smell seafood. This is because of saltwater and freshwater fish being present. The same concept applies to a saltwater fish tank. When you have fish present in your home, there may be times that the smell carries over. However, the smell of your saltwater fish tank should resemble the ocean more than dead fish. If your aquarium starts to smell like dead fish, you have a problem. The saltwater tank’s bad smell can resemble multiple scents. Think of the worst smells possible, raw eggs, dead animals, and rotten foods. If one of these smells occurs in your tank, take action immediately. The saltwater aquarium should not smell like this!
When you own an aquarium, the first thought that customers have is if the fish tank will smell. Usually, the aquarium will not smell bad! However, we will go over the possible reasons why your aquarium has a terrible smell. Keep reading to discover why your aquarium smells and how to find a proper solution for your saltwater aquarium!
Possible Reasons for Your Smelly Aquarium
Here we will discover the possible reasons why your saltwater aquarium is smelly. Under each possible cause, we give an analysis of the why factor. After the causes, we will be going over the solutions for each problem. This article will identify the problem and then help you with solving the problem!
Dead Fish
The number one reason as to why your saltwater aquarium smells bad is dead fish. Most saltwater fish can be quite large. However, sometimes you have smaller fish such as blennies, gobies, and clownfish. These types of saltwater fish tend to stay around the live rock and sand in your aquarium! Therefore the saltwater fish tend to die around the live rock. When the fish die in your aquarium, they tend to float to the bottom for the cleanup crew to eat. However, fish sometimes get caught on the live rock, which makes it difficult for your clean up crew to obtain the dead fish.
Solution for Dead Fish
The solution may be obvious, but the first step is to remove the dead fish. Finding the dead saltwater fish may be the most problematic task to accomplish. If you have a larger reef aquarium, the fish can be trapped between live rock or even coral around the aquarium. Start with moving the live rock around in your aquarium. Carefully pick up each piece of rock and transfer the decor to a separate location. The problematic aspect is finding the fish on the lower part of the live rock structure. After removing the live rock, you should be able to discover the dead fish. If you still have not found the fish, start moving the corals around carefully. After moving the corals, look around for a dead fish body. If the body is not found, it is time to move on to the next step to discover the bad smell!
Overfeeding Your Saltwater Aquarium
When you own a ton of saltwater fish in a large aquarium, aquarium owners tend to overfeed the tank to make sure everyone eats. However, be cautious not to overfeed the aquarium. I am guilty of overfeeding my 75-gallon saltwater aquarium because I want to make sure everyone eats! After testing my saltwater aquarium, I quickly learned that the fish were eating too much. I took a closer look and realized their bellies were massive too! Overfeeding is one of the top reasons why your aquarium smells terrible. The stray food tends to fall to the bottom of the aquarium. The food then lies on the live sand for the cleanup crew to eat. However, the cleanup crew is already too full from the excessive fish waste! This leaves your saltwater aquarium smelling terrible!
Solution for Overfeeding Your Saltwater Aquarium
The solution for overfeeding your aquarium is quite simple. STOP OVERFEEDING YOUR FISH! Joking, we will provide the correct solution here! When you feed your fish, keep in mind the general rule of thumb. The general rule is that their stomachs are roughly the size of the eyeball. Yes, you read that correctly. Therefore you do not need all of that food that you put in your aquarium.
If you have a ton of clean up crew members, they have a proper diet! Clean up crew members do not need extra food since they thrive off of fish waste and algae in your saltwater aquarium. Next time you feed your fish, feed the fish one at a time. Do not just dump the fish food in at once. Carefully provide the fish with multiple feedings that consist of smaller quantities. This method will ensure that all of the fish food is being eaten. After using this method, the horrible smell in your aquarium will start to go away!
Excessive Saltwater Fish Waste
Excessive fish waste can cause your aquarium to smell TERRIBLE! Just like when you use the bathroom, if you do not flush, the smell with remain in the bathroom! Fish waste looks like a stringy substance that is usually brown or white. After pooping, the fish waste will float to the bottom of the aquarium. The fish waste tends to sit on the live sand until a fish or clean up crew member eats the matter. If the fish poop is not consumed, the waste will sit there and cause a terrible smell in your aquarium. The smell leaves the aquarium owner angry and wondering what occurred to make the aquarium terrible. The solution is listed below!
Solution for Excessive Fish Waste
There are several solutions to decrease excessive fish waste in your aquarium. Try all of the methods below to increase the chances of excessive waste in your home aquarium. The first solution is to add more clean up crew members to your saltwater aquarium. With more clean up crew members, the fish waste will not sit at the bottom of the aquarium for long. However, there is a downside to having so many clean up crew members. The downside is that they create waste and take up oxygen in your aquarium. However, the majority of the fish waste will be gone.
The next solution is to reduce the amount of food that you feed your fish. The more you feed your fish, the more that they will produce waste. As listed above, the general rule is to feed the fish the amount of food that is equivalent to their eye. Using this measure will ensure that the fish will not be overfed, which keeps your saltwater aquarium healthy and thriving!
Poor Filtration
Your filter tends to do a fantastic job at removing the unnecessary elements in your home aquarium. However, at times the filter stops working. The reason may be that it is dirty and you need to clean it. Or it can be a serious issue like the whole filter stopped working. Poor filtration is the quickest way that your aquarium will be destroyed. Poor filtration usually starts with a terrible smell. The smell transforms into a much bigger problem. Fish will die, then your inverts, and lastly, the corals will shrink and bleach. Therefore, it is crucial to identify this issue as soon as possible!
Solution for Poor Filtration
The solution for poor filtration is to use a mechanical checkup. Just like your car, when something goes wrong, you inspect EVERYTHING! The problem may be a clog in your filtration system, or it may be that the whole system is broken and needs to be replaced. If you do not know how to check your filter, check in with a local fish store that can do the maintenance for you. It may be expensive at first, but your fish will be saved. Some saltwater fish can cost up to 500 dollars in a setting. Therefore use the money to help your aquarium!
In Conclusion
After going down the list of possible reasons and solutions, you now have a proper concept in hand to solve your smelly problem. Go down the list and test each method to solve the issue at hand. The process may be lengthy, but using these steps will remove the smell in your aquarium as soon as possible. The old saying is true that great things take time in life. Rome was indeed not built in a day. Therefore the same concept applies to your home saltwater aquarium. Be patient and take your time utilizing these steps. Make sure to message us if you have any problems at all. Here at AquariumHow, we are always here to help you with aquarium needs. We hope that you enjoyed the read!
