# ADA Soil (stinks)



## FlyingHellFish (Nov 5, 2011)

^ It smells like dirt because it's..... pretty much dirt. But the thing is, it shouldn't stink up the room if you add water. I never got any type of smell beside the earthy smell of an aquarium.

Check up on the condition of the substrate because ADA AquaSoil doesn't emit a funky smell.


----------



## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

+1 to the above


----------



## Mirkinator (Jan 13, 2014)

I just setup my 45 g last week and yes it stunk (like dirt) . Everyone that came over commented on it. But after 2 %50 changes the smell went away. I also skimmed teh surface with a large jug to get out some of those organics. Do some water changes and it should be good, smell dropped dramatically. The other posters here just might not have such an acute sense of smell


----------



## greenteam (Feb 8, 2012)

Sweet I will be doing some water changes then. Not too hard on a 5g so that's a plus. I knew it was the tank like you said Mirkinator because friends also commented on the strange aroma lol. 

Good lesson to learn for my future ada tanks.


----------



## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

I don't take that smell as a stink. I love the smell. Its the smell of fresh earth ready to be planted. It's the smell of a future awesome tank.


----------



## Mirkinator (Jan 13, 2014)

I dont either, but my kids/friends were like "ewww it stinks like fish in here" (which it was an "earthy" smell imo). But I agree, the smell of a future awesome tank! hehe. Moral of the story is after a few water changes it went away for me, the skimming may have helped as well.


----------



## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Do enough water changes to keep the ammonia low but not zero. 3 ppm is good. This will feed the nitrifying bacteria, and ought to keep the smell down.


----------



## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Mine never had a smell I found to be really bad, it smelled, as others have said, like dirt. I think that lasted about 2 weeks, it wasn't really bothersome at any time and was only noticeable when I was working on the tank. It did go away after a short period of time and never came back.


----------



## idex (Apr 15, 2010)

Can try adding purigen also to deal with the smell


----------



## exv152 (Jun 8, 2009)

I like the AS dirt smell. Reminds me of summer gardening.


----------



## greenteam (Feb 8, 2012)

The smell is gone now so it worked. I did not mind it either just can't have the house smelling like it lol.


----------



## greenteam (Feb 8, 2012)

Is this normal with ADA soil? My inert substrate tanks cycle about about now so kinda confused. 

5g tank running for 20 days now and reading 

API test kit:
Ammonia 4.0+ppm 
Nitri 0 ppm 
Nitra 20+ ppm


----------



## Green_Flash (Apr 15, 2012)

It is not as bad as when you have to pull (used) soil out.


----------



## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

greenteam said:


> Is this normal with ADA soil? My inert substrate tanks cycle about about now so kinda confused.
> 
> 5g tank running for 20 days now and reading
> 
> ...


Looks like it's taking longer than mine to cycle but AS takes awhile to cycle. If you didn't know already, it actually leaches Ammonia so it takes longer to cycle.


----------



## greenteam (Feb 8, 2012)

Yeah I know so it's great for fish less cycle but I wounder if the low PH levels is stalling the whole thing.


----------



## ShrimpChips (Mar 27, 2014)

greenteam said:


> So I have a new tank cycling with my first batch of ADA Amazonia (woot). The down side to this is that the tank has a funky dirt smell that kinda stinks up my living room lol.
> 
> How long will this strong dirt smell last? Anything I can do to help tone it down (the wife is not too happy with this "unknown smell she keeps smelling" lawl).
> 
> I would prefer to try and solve the issue before she catches on to the fact that it's the new little 5g tank I just setup lol.


enjoy the dirt smell...next it will smell like urine (ammonia) lol =P


----------

