Poll: Hands in Tank

[dilligaf29]

Use rubber band around the glove stay nice n dry

 

[cloak]

I always give my hands & arms a good scrub before putting them in the water. I don't use any soap though, just the hottest water I can stand.
When I'm done I just wipe my hand and arms down with a towel and go about my business. Eventually I'll get back to the sink.

 

[scardall]

IMO there are specific conditions when you wash hands and doesn't matter. After words as well.
To Wash hands 1) hands are dirty from handling anything that can cross contaminate. Such as cleaners,dirt, chemicals,greases and lotions of any kind. ( Note: never use perfumed Soaps)

Not Required to wash Hands 1) hands are Free from contaminates that could effect water chemistry/fish or Corals

When to Dry and or wash: Yes (Wash then Dry)---When you handled Live Stock or Corals that have a slime coating on them. ( Such as leathers and Green slimmer Acro's) Plus after feeding frozen Foods too.

No (Just Dry) Use a Dedicated Aquarium use ONLY Towel. Moving rock, dry food feeding or water adding or changes.

 

[AdamNC]

I always wash my hands before going in but afterwards if I’m up to my arms, then I wash both hands and arms.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

All of you that voted gloves... How does that work?

Rubber gloves would flood as soon as you get the wrist underwater, right? I would think surgical type gloves would be torn in no time when dealing with encrusted live rock... What, you have opera length rubber gloves? I'm picturing the kind of thing a vet uses when assisting in delivering a new colt

 

[themcnertney]

I believe that @Tahoe61 did some experimenting with this back in the 3reef days. I cant remember how many days she went without placing hands in the tank, but I want to say it was a few months? Maybe way off.

 

[Greybeard]

Thanks, Greenstreet...

Yup, look just like the ones the vet uses to deliver a colt

I laugh in the face of danger... I think I'll keep risking bare handed reefing.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

I understand that I just don’t want to take the chance of something that may not be good for my reef being on my hands and causing problems I would not forgive myself if that was to happen so I try play it safe.

 

[van7271]

I was with soap and water and include a thorough rinse before I go into the tank to rinse of as much soap residue as I can.

 

[SashimiTurtle]

No soap, but I don't touch the tank until after I've had a shower coming home from work and an hour or two has passed since the shower. I work in a power plant so I could have anything on my arms from coal, to ash, to limestone, to gypsum, to oil and grease... none of which are reef safe.

When I have to go in the tank, it's bare arms and I just dry off afterwards. Grew up around salt water, doesn't bother me one bit.

 

[sfin52]

As a pest control tech i always was my hands when putting in the tank on days I work. On my off days I dive right in.

 

[Newb73]

Pfft, I've grabbed zoas and washed them in a sink under hot tap water bare handed.

They were covered in cyano and i sort of wanted the rock for something else and figured they would die anyway....I was more or less trying to kill them...not only did they not die, they were back open within 3 days. Decided to keep them.

Of course i did immediately wash my hands after and make sure not to get it near my eyes or mouth.

It was this colony, although a bit smaller then.

 

[jsker]

This one was a multiple answer I wash my hand before I do anything out of habit. That being said, if my hands are clean I just go right in other wise hands are washed. After all the time. Glove are a wait of time, to many cross contaminate wearing gloves.

 

[anomeda]

I've been using gloves since day one because of fear for infections etc. I have a pair thick sholder long rubber gloves i use when i do wc, and for more simple work like changing floss i use dishwasher gloves.

 

[blebs]

no washing of hands, unless I was just touching something bad (basically any chemicals, detergent, lawn care stuff wahtever).

I think soap is worse than my own body's oils.

I am actually surprised at the high number of people who do wash their hands. I guess i probably mess around with moving stuff around my tank TOO much, my corals probably agree with that haha.

I use long forceps as much as possible to avoid putting too much of my arm in the tank (my tank is 24" tall), but sometimes you just gotta get at it!

 

[NY_Caveman]

I generally wash my hands all the time. Germ paranoia? Perhaps, but I also have multiple allergies, so just a habit I got into when younger. For saltwater needs I will give a good tap rinse without soap and then wear gloves. If I have to wash with soap I will rinse a long time. I always wash my hands after.

I will add I often wear face and eye cover depending on the task. Perfect example, I was bleaching some dry rock recently in a 5 gallon bucket. After two weeks, I was removing the rock to rinse and I dropped a piece of rubble rock right into the milky, foul bleach water. The resultant splash, tiny as it was, shot straight up onto my protective eye wear. I had to laugh as I realized what I thought might be overkill was adequate.

 

[xoleras]

wash before and rinse after

 

[SaltLifer]

I don’t usually wash before because I don’t want soap to run off into the tank. But always after. I have a 30” tank so half the time I have my whole arm in the tank and I worry about getting deodorant in the water.

 

[Dom274]

I now “have” to wear surgical gloves to stick my hands in the tank. It took a few rounds of learning the hard way, but it turns out that over the past year, I have developed a nasty allergic reaction to bristle worms.

 

[skiergd011013]

I always do, but water only. Dont wabt any soap residue getting in there. Then after, the same thing, just so my hands and arms arent sticky from dried saltwater.