"Suzie-Q" wrote in message
...
Should a freshwater aquarium have a smell?

A clean healthy aquarium has a faint pleasant lake-like aroma.

Sometimes I get a "stale" smell coming from my 2.5-gallon betta aquariums.

It sounds like it's time for a partial water change!

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).

This tank sounds a bit overcrowded and probably also needs some partial
water changes. Larger changes and more often. Vacuum the gravel as well.

I vacuum the tank and do water changes, although probably not as often as
I should.

How often are you doing them? A least once every 10 days?!?!?!

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.)

Fish will die at some point in distilled water. It's not a good idea and is
also expensive when water change time comes. You can mix it 50/50 with your
tap water if your tap water is hard and alkaline.

Thanks in advance,

--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Note: There are two Koi-Lo's on the Aquaria groups.
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