That not so nice smell

[BlueCoast]

Question for all you old salts who've spilled the occasional thing. I made the intelligent decision(insert sarcasm) to put my tank on a towel when it was setup. Somewhere i was thinking about the furniture, but not how to clean the towel. Now that i have dribbled fish lunch on it and had many wet tools sitting it is starting to smell a bit. Short of yanking it out, any ideas on freshening it up? I used a spray bottle with 50/50 rubbing alcohol and water with a drop of soap for hockey gear back in the old days, was thinking of trying it without the soap since tank tools will be coming in contact.

The other big stinker is the skimmer, it is a DIY'er that is using a seaclone cup. In the hole in the top i ran some tubing to a little carbon filter. It has reduced the smell significantly. Anyone else have any tricks they use to keep down the smell as the air is pushed out?

Here's to a stink-free tank :beer:

 

[saltycreefer]

Keep the skimmer clean. I have a towel under my tank too but haven't spilled anything funky on it yet. Knock on wood!

 

[alfa1023]

I have had success using baking soda to absorb odors due to chemical spills in my garage where the smell found its way into the house. Sprinkle it on the exposed parts of the towel and every few days vacuum it up and replace with new baking soda.

 

[mikebeasley]

I'm just thinking here and it's 3am but what about taking an old ratty towerl, cutting a huge rectangle in the center to fit around your tank, to where it neatly slides down the sides,then able to remove it to put in washing machine etc when it gets nasty?

 

[alizarin]

Smells come from 2 things - dead chemicals and organisms putting out chemicals. Diluted bleach will kill most things, water will take out most chemicals, and enzyme cleaners like "nature's miracle" will take out just about everything else. BUT, all those things require putting water through the fabric and that water is going to wick under the tank through the fabric. I'd try to rip it out if the baking soda doesn't work.