Grow tent smells like FISH? Ewww..help!

JanesRain said:

Yeah So I admit I've been a bit lazy letting small amounts of water sit around on the bottom of the tent after feeding. Took out my plants today to water and could smell a fishy type smell from the bottom of the tent. Cleaned it with some hot water and meyers soap then dried it and put plants back

IS the smell just from bacteria from the old water? Will it stop since I cleaned it? I don't want issues since I am only a few weeks away from my 5 plants being finished and ready to harvest

Just hope it's not mold or something....

Air circulation is good w/ 4 inch carbon filter and exhaust + 2 extra fans

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Hessam said:

What is the relative humidity in your tent?

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JanesRain said:

IS the smell just from bacteria from the old water? Will it stop since I cleaned it?

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Cx2H said:

So you got the swamp water smell going on.. Kinda like when someone leaves dirty mop bucket water and mop sitting around?

Use any kelp/seaweed or hydrolyzed fish?

If all else fails you could wipe it down with tea water or something citrus. Think I just ate 12 lbs of seafood and want this smell off me.

Keep the area clean! Standing water leads to all kindsa sheet going on in the tent and the house.

Myself I would sanitize and disinfect with a mixed down light bleach solution but thats me, I did pro cleaning for a few years..

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JanesRain said:

Yeh. I think once my plants dry out a bit on the bottom by tomorrow I will take them out again and clean with some antibacterial soap and continue doing so every few days. The smell was reduced by like 90% after i cleaned earlier, but still kinda paranoid. Not sure if plants are effected by it


And yeah, there is seaweed extract in fox farms trio. Not sure if that's it.

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Chunky Stool said:

stagnant water + molasses = lots of bad microbes (anaerobic)
You are flirting with disaster.

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coreywebster said:

Do you have acoustic ducting in your grow space? It may not seem like it but it is a relevant question

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JanesRain said:

Hate to fuck up months worth of hard work

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JanesRain said:

I don't think so. This is what I am using

https://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLFANXINL4FILT4MD8C-Exhausting-Pre-Filter-Reversible/dp/B00D7M6692

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JanesRain said:

It wasn't that much. Just the small amount coming out of the bottom of the pots after a watering. Will keeping the bottom of the tent super clean help at all? Hate to fuck up months worth of hard work

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Cx2H said:

You will be fine bro just keep the space lab clean if possible and use those plastic saucer rings to catch water from dollar tree, they have up to 10 incher.

Prolonged standing water is a Huge NO-NO.

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Chunky Stool said:

Dry is more important than clean. Bad things grow in stagnant water, and if temps drop, mold could quickly wipe out your crop.
I pull my plants out of the tent so I can water them with plenty of runoff. I'm a huge believer in runoff. It cleanses the soil and keeps it healthy.

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coreywebster said:

No worries, acoustic ducting is two layers of that stuff with an insulation layer in between. So looks like you don't have.
The only reason I ask is because there is the good stuff which has a vapour barrier inside, then cheap crap stuff that doesn't. The cheap stuff gets damp and creates a really strong rotten fish smell after a while. Anyhow doesn't seem like that's your problem at all.

On a more relevant note, molasses shouldn't cause that sort of smell, neither should kelp but both would feed any bad bacteria well (which isn't good ey)

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Six9 said:

Yep gotta keep it clean. I keep tent crazy clean but still get the occasional ant inside, they must smell the molasses. a tent in a 3rd level bedroom!

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