Welcome to another installment of Marine Depot's Q&A video series!

We all love having a piece of the ocean in our homes. However, most of us are not too fond of having our homes smell like the ocean, or worse, like the local fish store.

This brings us to today's question: "How do I get rid of that awful smell coming from my protein skimmer?"

Most saltwater aquarium owners have run into the issue of having a stinky tank at some point or another. Running activated carbon filter media in your aquarium helps remove the phenols which cause that stinky fish smell.

Unfortunately, for those of us running a protein skimmer as a part of our reef aquarium filtration system, there may still be a ton of odor coming from the concentration of organic waste inside the skimmer's collection cup. Plus, with the amount of air being pumped through your protein skimmer, it tends to radiate that stinky skimmate smell into the surrounding areas of your home.

One easy way to stop the stench is by placing a carbon filter pad on top of your protein skimmer collection cup. Rio Carbon Filter Pads work great for this quick fix. Just cut the pad to size and place it on the lid of the collection cup. As air and odor exits the collection cup, the carbon in the filter pad will absorb the smell and drastically reduce foul odor.

Since the carbon pad on your protein skimmer lid is only being used to remove odor, it will last quite a long time. On my personal system, I usually only have to replace the carbon pad every 2-3 months. A small price to pay to keep my family from complaining about my stinky fish tank.

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Until next time... take care and happy reefkeeping!

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