Smelly greenhouse

[Verna Gross]

Our green house is attached lean to style to our house and shares a common wall with a door and 2 windows with the kitchen which is perfect
Our problem is-- now that our system is cycled, we re growing Tilapia and the grow bedś 4 -2x4 and a constant flow rain gutter starter bed the smell is sometimes overwhelming. My water chemistry is right in line and the plants and fish are thriving. Any ideas why it smells so bad? I have worms on order and think that may help. Any suggestions are welcome. The smell gets better during the day when we open doors and the an is on

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Verna,

Not supposed to smell at all. Could have anaerobic pockets somewhere in the system. Do your GB's drain completely? Does the FT turnover within one hour? Are you missing any fish?

[Verna Gross]

Hi Harold. Hard to tell about the fish but we don't have any floaters --now that you mention it it started smelling after John reduced the flow to the GB's. I will have him increase it and see if that helps.
Thanks or responding

[Verna Gross]

We timed the water flow today and we have a 250 gal fish tank that overflows to 4 50 gal grow beds we are moving 300 gal per hour.
The odor is gone today so I really don't know why. I increased the flow slightly and planted more plants that were ready to be moved into the GB's

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Verna,

Sometimes outlet pipes are partially clogged with decaying debris/waste, sometimes pockets due to root balls and cause waste accumulation develop in GB's where there is poor water(oxygen) movement so i do hope you do regular maintenance on your system, with these conditions in mind.

[Verna Gross]

Thanks Harold. We will be looking into this as well. I have worms on order and assume they will help with this. Am I correct

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Verna,

Worms do much work in AP helping to release nutrient that's more easily absorbed by plants but, i find, they tend to avoid these anaerobic areas, and if conditions persist it may ultimately affect their propagation cycles, not to mention the system itself.