Aquarium plant smell - El Natural

Alex123 · 04-12-2009, 08:37 AM

Ok, I am curious if this is common. I have two small aquarium in my room which are mostly covered to avoid evaporation. I also have a water pump with no filters for circulation. My tanks are heavily planted and I have duckweed covering the entire surface. Since I have hardly any algae, the duckweed are growing like crazy and my room started to have this plant/weed smell. It's still cold so the windows are closed. I wonder if this is common. I probably need to remove quarter duckweed periodically.

bartoli · 04-13-2009, 09:30 AM

The smell can be that of blue green algae (cyanobacteria). See:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...?do=view&id=12

Newt · 04-13-2009, 09:34 AM

If it is BGA then be careful as it contains hepatotoxins(liver toxins).

It is typically brought on by polluted tank water; mostly HIGH phosphates and will be able to feed off light heavy in the yellow/orange zone (~600nm)

Alex123 · 04-13-2009, 09:21 PM

It's not BGA, I know what it smells like. I had an outbreak in the past. That was my last algae outbreak. Now the tanks are pretty much free of algae. Smell is pretty sure from duck weed. It's weed smell not earthy BGA smell. I think the smell is better after I remove a quarter of the duckweed cover.

hooha · 04-13-2009, 10:29 PM

It's the smell of victory

It could very well be duckweed, personally I'm very anti-duckweed. I've had plants get shaded and melt off because of it. Now, every time I get new plants I dip them in a bucket of water to make sure there is no duckweed....

Travis.808 · 04-14-2009, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hooha

It's the smell of victory

HA! I found this helpful caught me off guard and really did LOL sorry Alex I can't help as I'm a noob but, had to comment on hooha's response.

Diana K · 04-14-2009, 08:08 AM

I just went around and tried to smell several tanks.
Duckweed: No noticeable odor
Water Lettuce: Ditto
Tank with a dead fish: Dead fish
Tank with slowest moving water, emersed plants: faint earthy-plant smell. Not noticeable in the room.
Brackish water tank: Faint 'oceanfront' fragrance, not noticeable in the room.
Tank with known Cyano: No noticeable odor.
Several others: Faint earthy-plant fragrance, not noticeable in the room. Gotta open the lid and get really close to the water.

Most of the time I have windows open for fresh air but this morning it is cold, house is closed up, trapping odors inside.
Water changes are infrequent, I do not run carbon or other chemical media that might adsorb odors.
Most tanks have glass covers, but not the plastic strip (one tank has this strip- fish are climbers)
I have never noticed any odor from duckweed, and I do harvest it often enough from several tanks that I would have noticed.
Many plants smell like plants, but usually when the leaves or stems are bruised or cut.
Most tanks have an assortment of algae, emersed and submerged plants.
None have garden soil or potting soil.

There are more than one species of duckweed. I wonder if you may have a different one that has a more obvious odor?

bartoli · 04-14-2009, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex123

Smell is pretty sure from duck weed.

All my tanks have duckweed and I have not noticed any odor coming from them - even when they covered the whole surface.

May be you can post a photo of what your duckweed looks like?

KraKen · 04-14-2009, 07:13 PM

When I first got my water lettuce it was rotting very slightly and smelled just like spinach, so perhaps your duckweed going a little bad?

Alex123 · 04-16-2009, 02:22 PM

Ok, it looks like it's just my tank. All the plants are healthy and free of algae. I have duckweeds that are going white but they are in the minority. It's too troublesome to remove one by one by hand. When I scoop up a handful of them, they have this smell. Oh well, I'll post otherwise if I find the source to be some other plant/origin.