Weekly Discussion - Hands in tank

[Anonymous]

Weekly Discussion - Hands in tank

How often do you stick your hands in your tank? In much of the literature, we are cautioned to put our hands in our tanks as little as possible because doing so could have bad effects. Has anyone seen anything that would substantiate the idea that putting your hands in the tank is detrimental to the tank?

About the RDO Weekly Discussion:
This discussion is meant to get at your experience and to share information that is in your head, so don't necessarily treat it as information gathering. State your opinion and, if available, use material, anecdotal or otherwise, that will back up your opinion.
Past weekly discussions will be archived in the archives.
If you have topics that you think would be helpful for the RDO community to discuss, please send me a pm or start your own thread! :mrgreen:

 

[Anonymous]

I avoid it simply because I hate having to wash the salty yuk off my hands.

Also, I'm paranoid about cooties going in my hand (like if I have a scratch or something). I hear that zoos are toxic?

Lastly, I might have a household cleaner, or cigarette smoke or even food hehe, on my hands ... why do I want to put it in the tank?

 

[jandree22]

I bought those thick Coralife aquarium gloves that go the whole way up to your shoulders. They're great and I use them as much as possible. However, to do really fine detail stuff in my tank, I sometimes just go in with my bare hands/arms.

I don't worry too much about contaminating my water, but then again, I don't have a full blown reef either. I KINDA worry about getting wierd stuff on my and I'm sure to wash my hands really good, although my cleaner shrimp usually does a pretty thourough job of pickin the parasites off of me while I'm in there :lol:

 

[Len]

I've been using shoulder length gloves for quite some time now. The reason, actually, is my forearm develops an allergic reaction to saltwater so I'm forced to. This all started about 10 years ago when I scrapped up my forearm against some Acro heads. Since they, I can't get my arm in SW.

I know a lot of folks who put their hands into their tanks with no noticable effects (other then disturbing their livestock with their hands in the tank). I would imagine it depends greatly on what you do with your hands/arms prior to putting it in your tank. But no matter what, I believe it's better to err on the side of caution and keep your hands out if possible.

 

[jandree22]

I get an allergic reaction quickly to dry salt, and if I have my arms in my tank without washing, I get a reaction after 15min-30 min. Nothing severe, just get irritated and a lil itchy.

 

[rwoolley]

Hi, I'm Bob, and I put my hands in my tank...
I usually rinse my hands with plain water first. I've noticed no apparent reactions from this, to either myself or the tank inhabitants. I probably have my hands in the tank for one reason or another on average of once a day. 8O

 

[tangir1]

(According to some Feudian psychologist, excessive washing of the hand when working on aquarium is related to guilt from childhood related to masterbation... :twisted: )

 

[rwoolley]

Ouch! :lol:

 

[Baianotang]

That was a good one

 

[Anonymous]

i used to stick myarms in there without a lot of thought but lately i have noticed an immediate reduction in skimmer output when i put my hands in.. this has probably always been the case and i now i can just see it since my skimmer is easy to view now.

other than that i haven't ever noticed any effects from putting myself in the tank.
i do often rinse my hands beforehand as i often work with copper pipe.

 

[erickrebsbach]

I stick my hands in my tank daily and have had no ill effects as of yet :roll: Never heard of the freudian thing but it sounds good

 

[Anonymous]

Hi my name is dragoon and I'm a habitual barearm tank addict. I've tried to quit , but it's just got me man...

 

[Anonymous]

Gloves.

I work with paint thinner, paints, cleaning chemicals that I dont' want to get into the tank.

So it proves the freudian thing wrong.

Oh, wait. I'm not ashamed.

nevermind, it doesn't prove anything.

B

 

[J.Howard]

I'm a glove part-timer. If I'm planning on doing something in particular, I'll don the gloves. If it's something else, like...ah crap, there goes another cube of food to the overflow, then I just reach in. I try to make a habit of washing the old manos before I enter the room just in case.

Does this mean I'm cheating on my gloved hand with the bare one in freudian terms? I love my Mom and Dad, so should I worry?

 

[fishfanatic2]

I never wear gloves. I usually only put my arms in at water change time since my lights sit on top of the cover and it is really annoying and a pain in the *** to pull it off. I really never knew about tat stuff that it screws your reef up. Now only if it screwed my algae up, then i might stick my arm in the tank a lot more. :wink: :roll:

 

[Sprattoo]

Im always cautious about whats in my tank.
My tanks have open tops, so whatever's in the air, is in my tanks... I wonder if my fish like Bacon on saturday AMs?

My bare hands/arms are in my tanks almost daily to do some sort of maintainance. I have heard that some zooanthids are poisonous... At least I'm not allergic to mine, nor am I allergic to condylictus.

My hands and arms are rinsed before they go in. If I have been working on my car or something that day, the hands dont go in the water afterward.
A little common sense will do IMHO about where your hands have been. but I've only been doing it for a couple of years.

The fruedian thing I'm a pro at.....

 

[Mikef1]

I put my hands in my tank on a daily basis. I just rinse them with hot water before sticking them in there. I have never had anything bad occur due to this. The only thing is my skimmate stops as soon as I get my arms in there, not a big deal to me.

 

[robitreef]

I have always put my hands in the tank, and the only problem I know of is accidentally hitting a rock or something to cause it to tumble. I only stick them in there to clean the glass and if anything falls over.

 

[ricky1414]

I rarely put my hands into my tank...except to tickle my corals! :wink: :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I never wear gloves, but I try to put my hands in as little as possible. With a magnet cleaner, there's no real reason to ever put my hands in my main tank. I worry more about freaking out my shy fish than introducing some type of contaminant.