Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have to ask before I build anything if there is a noticable smell to a cycled AP sysem?

Usually there is a clean water smell, nothing offensive (mine has a slight ammonia smell as it is in a shed and my ammonia is at 1).

After awhile of being around your own system you will be able to smell if something is wrong and test for it. IMHO

My system almost has no smell unless you put your face up close to the water, whci is a faint earthy smell I would say similar to a well kept indoor aquarium.

PS I am lightly stocked. 1 900L water , 12 x 25cm Silvers + 15 small 10cm silvers.

A properly cycled system should have no offensive smell and what little odor it does have will likely be like a walk by a garden pond or a slight earthy/woodsy smell. Actually, the only smell I usually ever notice around our AP system is from the fish food odor on my hands after I feed them.

Now if the fish get over fed regularly, if gunk is building up in the tank, if the system isn't cycled properly or the ammonia level gets too high, you will likely notice an odor.

I've also noticed that a tank with a plastic cover, may have more odor when you open the cover than a tank that gets a good amount of air circulation.

In short a properly managed AP system should not smell bad same as a properly managed compost pile should not smell bad.

I agree with all of the above, there is no unpleasant odour associated with a healthy AP system...I cover my FT with 90% shadecloth, sticking my head right in and under the cover I can get a slight whiff of clean water (whatever that smells like ) - as to the plants in the GBs, there is a nice garden plant smell emanating from them

Basically, just nice earthy, watery smells

mine smells like rainbows . AP is magical , the only way it could possible smell better is if I could somehow keep unicorns in it

Boris, you were talking to Bethany weren't you?

Ours smells like fairies

I had to ask.

Smelly water is bad, clean shiny water is good

+1 for rainbows............i mean earthy!

PS, doesn't the [s][/s] bbcode work anymore?

PS no

Mine smells like creek...

This is an excellent question Evil.
My system has a good clean water / clean aquarium smell now but when I accidently let the solids build up a few months back (and the temperature went down), the smell became quite different...just before my 100 SP's all died in 3 days.
Smell is a very good indicator of system health methinks.
I would love to hear some other thoughts on this subject.

Smell is a good indicator that something is wrong, however it is probably VERY wrong by the time you notice by smell.

have been told mine smells like the ocean, must be all the salt I keep putting in, could sometimes smell the ammonia when I stuck my head under the cover but this was before I cut back on feeding with the cold weather, since then just smells great!
cod fish