Should a freshwater aquarium have a smell?

Sometimes I get a "stale" smell coming from my 2.5-gallon betta aquariums.
And I sometimes get a foul smell from my 10-gallon aquarium (a dozen glo-light
and neon tetras, a pleco, a SAE, and about four ghost shrimp).

I vacuum the tank and do water changes, although probably not as often as
I should. I've also started using distilled water, since our local tap water
is very hard and God only knows what's in it! (I won't drink the stuff.)

Thanks in advance,
--
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail)
~~~~~~
"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter
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