smelliest part of this hobby.

[OnoIgotICH]

skimmate? NA

PULLING OUT A DEAD HAMMER CORAL THAT WAS SLIMING UP.

WHY DID I EVER PULL THAT OUT

[AquaReeferMan]

Dead turbo snails and skimmate top my list.

[Conesus_Kid]

Dead snails. Definitely dead snails.

[ihopss]

Dead snails do smell.

[Paintbug]

before i even open this thread i was thinking dead snails LOL. i pulled a big 3"+ zebra turbo from my tank. it was so bad i put it back in the tank for the clean up crew to handle LOL. the whole basement stunk for about 2 days!! and it was only out of the water for a few seconds.

[Pmolan]

Mysis on your hands.

[rcpilot44]

cleaning out my sulfur denitrifier..Nasty

[AquaReeferMan]

Oh, I got another one. Xenia. You cant get that smell off your hands.

[matttaylor]

Definately xenia, or sps corals.

[reeferaddiction]

i have to agree with reeferman on the xenia i have been fragging mine lately and that stuff is disgusting

[reeferaddiction]

even worse than xenia imo is the little bit of nori left in the veggie clip where the fish cant get to it. leave it in your tank for 2 or 3 days and tell me what you think, smells like a bum with a mouth full of rotting teeth.

[pledosophy]

Tearing out a sand bed. :(

[balmiesgirl]

I agree on the sand bed!!!!

[UrbanSage]

Curing live rock.

[Absint Reefer]

dead anemone fresh out of the shipping bag

[poppin_fresh]

I made the mistake of adding a couple drops of Garlic Xtreme to food I added to the tank. Now, I like garlic (I use it in everything I cook), but the stench from that was not cool! With 100 gallons of garlic water in the basement my house smelled awful for a couple days.

[LobsterOfJustice]

1. Dead snails
2. Xenia
3. If you sniff the mag float up close it smells stright up like poop. I dont know why.

Matttaylor, I dont know what your talking about. SPS corals smell great! I think its one of those brain-association things. Subconsciously I associate the smell with new frags, which make me happy :) .

[Hormigaquatica]

A case of previously-live Brine Shrimp, lost by the airlines during shipping, having spent 2 days in Phoenix over the summer. Open that sucker up and see if it doesnt knock you over.

Close second- leaving a cup of thawing mysis in the canopy, under a halide. And forgetting about it til you get home from work late the next night. Special.

[Freed]

Well, obviously none of you have ever smelled a few days dead sea hare. Try it, you'll like it.

[LobsterOfJustice]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11054363#post11054363 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hormigaquatica
Close second- leaving a cup of thawing mysis in the canopy, under a halide. And forgetting about it til you get home from work late the next night. Special.

Actually, I think I've smelled this one before. It smells surprisingly like old urine, am I correct?

[mxett]

The price of some of the pretty simple equipment in this hobby. That really stinks!! :eek1: :mad2: :eek2: :mixed: :furious:

[Hormigaquatica]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11054457#post11054457 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
Actually, I think I've smelled this one before. It smells surprisingly like old urine, am I correct?

Does indeed. My poor beagle has gotten yelled at a couple of times for going in the house- only to find it was the stupid shrimp.. lol.. sorry Harvey...

[TitansFan]

Xenia or this black goodness gets my vote

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i232/TitanFan76/skim2.jpg

[somethinfishier]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11054353#post11054353 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
1. Dead snails
2. Xenia
3. If you sniff the mag float up close it smells stright up like poop. I dont know why.


I am going to have to agree with you for 1 & 2, but I think that you should quit sniffing your mag float. You almost got me to sniff mine. I wonder how many people have sniffed their mag floats now? :D

[corals b 4 bills]

I have to go with 3" zebra snail, melting clam, and not a horrible smell but one you can't wash off....kenya tree funk!

[mskohl]

A new shipment of not so live rock. It used to be live, but traveled dry for a couple of days.

Woo, that funk sticks in your nose. I had to drive for 3 hours with those rocks in the back of the car.

[SDguy]

Dead snail!

...and why? Because we all pull it out, then bring it right up to our nose and sniff "just to make sure it's dead" :rolleyes: Serves us right.

[bikeguy1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11053197#post11053197 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reeferaddiction
even worse than xenia imo is the little bit of nori left in the veggie clip where the fish cant get to it. leave it in your tank for 2 or 3 days and tell me what you think, smells like a bum with a mouth full of rotting teeth.

Do you have a lot of bum friends and if so, why are you close enough to smell their teeth?

[HippieSmell]

Me :smokin: J/K

An old DSB that I pulled out smelled pretty rank though.

[Radioheadx14]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11053197#post11053197 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reeferaddiction
even worse than xenia imo is the little bit of nori left in the veggie clip where the fish cant get to it. leave it in your tank for 2 or 3 days and tell me what you think, smells like a bum with a mouth full of rotting teeth.

after living on campus in college for 4 years and the countless bums, the smell goes away.

[xtm]

Has anyone sniffed DT's Oyster Eggs? That thing is so BLECH!!!

[Pmolan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11054817#post11054817 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by somethinfishier
I think that you should quit sniffing your mag float. You almost got me to sniff mine. I wonder how many people have sniffed their mag floats now? :D

Thats the Andy Kaufman method!!
http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/universal_pictures/man_on_the_moon/jim_carrey/moon3.jpg

[NHfishguy]

Oh ya its dead snails..dunno how they do it but man are they horrible.

[OnoIgotICH]

Oh yaeh definetely dead snails. one time i pulled out these snails i bought these snails for eating, put them in a QT tank. They were moving but i threw them out the next 2-3 days. Smashed them with a hammer.

WOW.

[aschroeder]

Dead snails are bad, but pale in comparison to the rock I cured recently. It had tons of rotting life on it. While pulling the rock out of the water to clean off the dead stuff during the curing process, I gagged and almost threw up on multiple occasions.

[jvetter]

Last night I cleaned the collection cup on the skimmer. I always find myself sniffing it before washing out the sludge and tea just to see how bad it is.

But last night was different. This hobby has turned me into a sicko. THE SKIMMATE SMELLS GOOD !!!

[JENnKerry]

I agree with the old 2 day nori on a clip. That's horrible. Jen and I tried to save a friend's anenome by putting it in our tank and it died within a week's time (a little too late I guess). Smelled worse than death.,

[Frick-n-Frags]

OK, there is a difference between "ewwwww nasty!" and

"archghs cough-gag choke argh I GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!"

the dead sea anemone could knock a buzzard off a doodoo wagon at 50 paces. I have never smelled anything with a code red vileness like that, ever. (dead rat in a drain was close though)

[ACBlinky]

Dead anemones
Dead sponges
Dead turbos
Old nori in the clip
Old sand, gone anaerobic after left sitting in a bucket for a week (sulfur)
Making blender mush (seafood + garlic + seaweeds + blender motor burning out = naaasty smell)
Dead coral/curing LR
Thick skimmate
Phyto that's 'gone off'
A cycling tank in the middle of the NH3 spike
Used filter socks sitting in a bucket without enough bleach, waiting to be cleaned

Wow. This hobby smells BAD! :D

[Jasontkd]

I have never smelled anything worse that the dead, decaying turbo snail. second would be skimmate (especially dry). thirs, curing rock. fourth, me after working my but off to get a tank mover in about a day, sweating like a cow.

[reeferaddiction]

"Do you have a lot of bum friends and if so, why are you close enough to smell their teeth?"

No bum friends but i have been near some people whos teeth are rotting and thier breath is unfavorable, but that doesnt quite get the point accross about the stinky nori so i felt the need to elaborate. it was just an asumption i didnt meen to offend any bums that may be on this forum.

[Frick-n-Frags]

analogies are good :)

[LukFox]

Curing tonga branching rock. I've never smelled anything so bad. Ever. I've had an anemone die, I have smelled dead snails to assure they are dead, I have left out left over sushi to thaw under my lights to feed to my eels for a few days (my dog got in trouble for this, too!), and I let a dead fish sit in the hospital tank for two days because I was too depressed to remove it so when I did it smelled awful.

Although these were bad, nothing compares to that tonga rock. I'm fine with curing fiji rock or anything, but tonga is another story. I had to hold my breath while changing the water on the trash can. I'd have to run back into the house for air every 45 seconds (it was in the garage). I just could not handle that smell.

[nrstype]

:eek2: , OLD "DT" Juice & Dead snails, & crazy mixed up sand sludge.

However.. I think I will refrain from sniffing my mag float... though now that thought is in my head.. I may never get it out. Now everytime I see it, it calls out to me "SNIFF ME".. "SNIFF ME"... Thanks "LobsterOfJustice".... !:D :lol:

[Chef Reef]

a 7 inch cody nem that got sucked up in my MJ and sat there all day for about 8 hours till i got home... had to take it apart and try to squish the nem through all the holes to get it all out. got squirted in the eye once and almost made it in my mouth. not so good smell neither..

"Ah the fresh taste of dead nem at night!!"

[bhdmc]

Dead snails, dead anemones and skimmate.

[Hypo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11054353#post11054353 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
3. If you sniff the mag float up close it smells stright up like poop. I dont know why.

Did you actually do this?

[reeferaddiction]

oh yeah dt's phyto i nasty

[LobsterOfJustice]

I dont remember why I decided to sniff the magfloat. My best guess is that when you clean the glass with it, the algae gets stuck in the pad and results in the same effect as the leftover nori in the clip. I should point out that I keep my magfloat out of the tank as well. Someone else has to give it a try to see if it's only my float.

[papagimp]

My vote goes for the dead clam that sat outside in a 5g bucket for a week. When I opened the bucket to rinse it out so I could use it again, thought I was going to pass out from the raw, nasty, horrid, rancid stench! I"d have eaten a dead snail to avoid that stink again!

[hyperfocal]

The garbage can in which I put the cyano-covered substrate I siphoned out of the tank, after sitting in the hot sun for almost a week. I thought the neighbors would show up with torches and pitchforks on that one.

[somethinfishier]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11058300#post11058300 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
Someone else has to give it a try to see if it's only my float.

Sorry lobster I really want to do it for you but I just can't. I bet somewill post in the next 10 minuts saying their mag float stinks too. Until then I will just have to take your word for it.;)

[ahullsb]

Try opening up a cannister filter after a few months....when you forgot to empty out the water before storing it. I almost fainted. :( Well not really but it was disgusting.

[dcombs44]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11058534#post11058534 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ahullsb
Try opening up a cannister filter after a few months....when you forgot to empty out the water before storing it. I almost fainted. :( Well not really but it was disgusting.

You beat me to my post. I also left my old canister full of tank water and old sponges, etc. when I switched to a sump. 3 or 4 weeks later when I cracked that thing open..........I was hanging dead snails in the garage to fight the smell. That was a rough one.

[gm333]

3. If you sniff the mag float up close it smells stright up like poop. I dont know why.

I have done this before and trust me I wont do it again. I was blaming one of the dogs and frantically searching for the pile!
Come to find out it was the magfloat.

[chewie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11056920#post11056920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frick-n-Frags


the dead sea anemone could knock a buzzard off a doodoo wagon at 50 paces.

ROTF!!!!:lol:

How about a 14" T. Gigas that didn't make it in shipping.

[ahullsb]

dcombs44, I'm glad someone else has experienced that. WOW. I think we win

[marino420td]

My son left a whole package of frozen mysis on the bar counter where it could not be seen. After a day or so out of the freezer this was pretty bad.

[Abominable Reef]

My vote is for two day old leftover nori on a clip. Although dead rotting carpet anemone comes in a close second.

Now why do I keep checking on the smell of the nori when I know it's bad? Maybe I like to keep impressing myself at how bad it is. Sort of like your own flatulence...:rolleye1: :lol: :fun5:

[HPD Turbo]

I de froze a cube of Misys but wrongly put 1 min. instead of 10 sec. My God I was going to past out!!
Putisima madre!!!!!!

[cowboyswife]

Xenia, dead snails, and frilly mushrooms top my list. Every time my husband would redo his aquascaping, I would gag when he pulled out his rock of 30+ frillies.

[flyyyguy]

heres some stink..........although I wasnt actually stupid enough to smell it.

Last week when doing some fall cleaning I found two 5 gallon buckets full of crushed coral from a predatory tank I used to have set up. They were 3 years old with screw on tops of course. I took them to the dump as is.

Could you imagine what that may have smelled like if you were to dump that out and take a whiff??

Ill add that this is the same bed of crushed coral that produced several worms over two feet long with 12 inchers common place. ewwwww.

[dirtyclownfish]

I left a shot glass of thawing mysis on my desk for a few days, All of the water had evaporated and the smell of rotting mysis filled my workstation for days, lingering under the piles of GNU/Linux documentation spilling of my laser jet. I wondered about the smell for days.

[DeltecRules]

Cleaning my H&S A200-1260 skimmer for the first time was one of the worst smells I ever encountered.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/583/104218mini-112-1298_IMG.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/583/104218mini-113-1302_IMG.JPG

Finger Licking good
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/583/104218mini-113-1307_IMG.JPG

[nrstype]

OK.. I'm Stomach is officially "TURNED" now DeltecRules ....

Should not have read this before breakfast......! (as Morning Coffee....... slowly.....coming... up .....and........... OUT!!!!!):hmm4:

[chrisstie]

1. Dead 3" turbo snail.
2. ex-Sea Hare.
3. Dead Acro colony
4. Xenia.

What're you guys on about skimmate smells guuuuud! Thats how you know your skimmer is a'workin!


So one day I'm at work, and a guy brings in some big snails from his tank and would like to exchange them for smaller ones since they're knocking everything over. Okay, so they float for a while, we take care of him, acclimate the snails to the invert tank yada yada

Little while later business is picking up where I work and a little girl points out to a coworker "Look all the crabs are eating the big snail!"

Now ironically the invert tank is right next to a door you simply have to unlock to use.

Well, said coworker picks up snail to take him out of the Discovery channel scene and for some reason decides to use the store's main door to exit with the snail victim.

My boss at the time is talking to a customer with a young baby about calcium reactors or something to that effect and suddenly there is this smell.

Everyone is looking around like "he who smelt it dealt it"... Everyone starts eyeing the baby like there's poo-diaper going on in a serious funkdified way.

Everyone starts looking around in a severe state of panic thinking now would be a good time to evacuate the store!!

Apparently the coworker bringing the snail out the long way that took all of 5 seconds dripped just enough dead-snail-juice into the air and onto the floor we truly had to evacuate the store for a good 30 minutes.

You couldn't even stand next to the doors we opened up and left open because the smell was just blowing straight out of the store.

I'm really surprised a wild pack of dogs didn't come running straight for us to jump into the store and roll around in the snail juice since dogs like all things smelly but this was one of those putrid stenches you wouldn't even wish on your worst enemy EVAR.

I only feared going back to work the next day and wondering if I should bring one of those dust mask things to help filter out the smell. I could at least draw a funny little mouth on it and pretend I'm smiling instead of having my stomach turn somersalts

[King-Kong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11052769#post11052769 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Conesus_Kid
Dead snails. Definitely dead snails.


no doubt.

I have never smelled anything worst, nor found anything else that can stick onto your skin so quickly.

it's pure evil.

[wizzbane15]

Dead carpet anemones smell something beyond fierce!

[Hypo]

ya hehe

[DB06]

As mentioned, cooking rock gets pretty disgusting and gets my vote.

[Lightsluvr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11054772#post11054772 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitansFan
Xenia or this black goodness gets my vote

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i232/TitanFan76/skim2.jpg

You sure don't want to mistake this for your coffee pot in the morning.... :eek2:

LL

[Angela Short]

I have lauphed my but off reading this now I have a unbearable urge to go smell my mag float.... Wonder how many of us actually really went and did give it a wiff :lol:

Dead snails without a doubt. As bad as you want to keep nutrients out of the tank when I pulled a rotting dead snail out and gave it the obligatory wiff for some reason I just dropped it back in for the worms or skimmer to take care of. UGGG that was Baaaaad.

Kinda a stinky story related to the tank... a stray cat decided to take a big ol runny poop in my open box of Instant ocean (has 4 50 gallon bags per box). At least my 3 very well litter trained cats blamed the stray cat hanging around ;). It was a hard decision to hose the 2 uponened 50 gallon baggs off and use them anyways it smelled so bad but I needed a water change and salt isn't cheap. I kept smelling something horriable in the garage and found it only when I went for my salt to mix my water up. I seriously almost lost my lunch :(.

[gsxunv04]

do you all usually leave the snails in or take them out. my mexican turbo died and my hermits havnt found him, i dont want him to pollute the tank if it will

[gsxunv04]

but phytoplankton and spirulina flakes smell like @$$ if you ask me.

[Hop]

Worst smell ever was vacuuming a sandbed out and telling my 11 year old to go dump it out. He forgot and about 3 months later I went to go retrieve the reefing vac and found all that crud still in it, swarmed with flies... Yuck!

[nrstype]

gsxunv04, by the time I find the snails.. they usually are long gone, (eaten, fish food, crab buffet, disintegrated, liquefied, but just "GONE" nothing but the shell... )

But yes.. if you find anything dead, REMOVE IT. However, I don't always find them until AFTER they've been dead and gone for a while.

The bigger the snail, the bigger they are to find (usually). The ones I don't find are the smaller astrea snails.