On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 03:52:07 +0000 (UTC), (Richard
Sexton) wrote:

It should smell like youwouldn't mind drinking it. Tough to do in
a small tank where the population densty is orders of magnitude
higher than in nature.

Smell is such a subjective sense - I could say a good aquarium smells
like a handful of perfectly prepared spring garden soil, or a
perfectly aged compost heap, but non-gardeners couldn't relate to
that. Bottom line is that a healthy aquarium should never have a smell
that is offensive to anyone. If something smells bad to you, then
something's wrong with your water.

-- Mister Gardener