Protective gear - how do you protect yourself when working with your reef?

[jkobel]

Hi all,

I recently had what seems to be a possible very strong reaction working in my tank. I have a 160 gal system that is mixed reef which includes Zos'a and BTA's among other things. Her the years, I have often felt nausea after sticking my hands in my tank but I have become accustomed to it.

This weekend I was making changes and dropped a piece of rock which damaged 4 BTAs which started to melt. I have heard that when BTAs are damaged they can release their toxins - not sure if this is 100% confirmed but since then I have been having a reaction in my arms and ended up spending the night in the ER. I cant 100% confirm if these two things are related but it got me thinking...

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My question here - How do you all protect yourselves when you are working on/in your tank?

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I often will use nitrile gloves when I touch corals but im wondering if I should be trying not to touch the water all together? Does anyone use a full length glove that goes to the shoulder? is there one that fits like a nitrile glove?

It would be great if folks could share what they use with links to where they get it. (gloves or otherwise). In general this incident just started me thinking about safety and that I'm probably not doing nearly enough.

Thanks!

 

[BryanM]

I don't use any protection working in my tank. I hate water in gloves, I've tried really long gloves... I just bare hand it.

 

[EgotisticObeseChihuahua]

I usually just stick my bare arms and hands in the water since I used to have skin reactions, but over time those disappeared. I had bought a pair of aquarium gloves that go to your shoulders and those worked for minimal saltwater contact with skin. It was a lot harder to pick up stuff and move it around as accurately as I would prefer.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I use shoulder length nitrile gloves, I got them from amazon.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I use shoulder length nitrile gloves, I got them from amazon.

This is similar to what I use!