You remove your mag cleaner?
Oh yes, always. Tanks acrylic, so leaving it in offer temptation to my kids and their friends to ‘give it a quick test drive’. That’s never a good thing.
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You remove your mag cleaner?
FAMA or maybe TFH did a article on soap residue and hands in the tank a long while back... anyway I think the gist was soap isn’t as innocuous as you might think nor does it wash off that easilyYou may have heard it a time or two but there's an reefing old wives tale that says it's a good idea to keep your hands out of your tank.
Is "keeping your hands out of the tank" as big a deal as people say?
What does it even mean and how do you keep your hands out of the tank?
amazing reef image via @PSXerholic
I would stick with the rinsing and rubbing with R/O. If you still feel you need to get a possible contaminant off your skin, get a handful of table salt , could be with iodine, don’t think that would hurt the tank, wet with R/O and rub hands and arms with it. Seriously I’ve done this, and it makes your skin feel really good when you rinse it off.Some have mentioned washing their hands before putting them in their tank. What type(s) or brands of soap do you recommend? Obviously looking away from perfumes and antibacterials is there a soap on the market that would not introduce unwanted chemicals into our tanks. I would assume rinsing with fresh water would be a minimum. I, like others try to keep my hands out as much as possible. When they need to go in I'm usually just rinsing them. If there was a safe soap to use I would consider it.
Thanks.
Totally agree. You saved me typing a longer response.40 years ago when I started my first big tank.... 55 gallons... freshwater.... I was told by another hobbyist to try not to do too much in the tank and let the tank find its "balance". Get it set up.... then let it be. Let it mature... All tanks have a balance they will achieve at some mysterious point in the future. It kind of worked for me.... I have had many successful tanks... fresh, salt and reef....
Interestingly, when I got into large reef tanks... I must have had amnesia....as I was always fooling around with one thing or another. Moving rock, corals, gluing this and that.... It became an obsession.... I work from home and I get to stare at my tanks all day long. I have taken conference calls with my arms deep in tanks.... cleaning, moving....etc.... I also chased all the new fads in equipment, food, additives... etc... So I always had something I could and would be doing....
A couple of years ago, I was having real problems with my new 180 reef... I had one problem after another. It consumed all my time. I could not figure out why this tank was giving me headaches. Meanwhile, I had a 72 bowfront and a 135 corner bow both reef systems that I began to neglect. I didn't do anything to them other than topoff.... feed.... and an occasional water change. Both tanks found their "balance" and both tanks began to thrive. I was able to grow corals that I really shouldnt have in them. They were not the prettiest tanks. The fish were healthy.... the corals were growing.... It then dawned on me... that I was goofing around too much with my new system and all the things I was doing was having a negative impact to the fish, corals and the ecosystem I was trying to establish.
I adopted a more "hands off" approach. I resist like crazy doing too much in any given week let alone in a day. I feed... I do basic maintenance. I used to test the parameters all the time. This led to chasing parameters. I now test maybe once or twice a month... Alk, Ca, Nitrates and Phosphates. I do have a doser... and topoff... I also have a basement sump with an algae scrubber....blah blah... blah....
The tank has since started to settle in nicely. things are growing. The fish are happy and healthy. I even have a pair of clownfish that spawned this last Saturday....a first for me.
For me, going hands-off as much as I have has helped my tank settle.... I am not sure it has found its balance. But... it has become less of a chore and things seem to be doing much better.
I keep my hands out as much as possible. It's important to do this for a few reasons in my opinion. I have a nano-reef for a start and also as I work with a lot of dangerous chemicals ( to marine life) such as ammonia, copper and nickel salts.You may have heard it a time or two but there's an reefing old wives tale that says it's a good idea to keep your hands out of your tank.
Is "keeping your hands out of the tank" as big a deal as people say?
What does it even mean and how do you keep your hands out of the tank?
amazing reef image via @PSXerholic