do you stick your hands in your tank? Or wear gloves?

[BristleWormHater]

I wash my hands with soap and then scrub them with vinegar to get any soap residue off.

 

[Troylee]

FWIW I don’t wash my hands or use gloves… I just put my dirty hands in the tank when needed and haven’t ever seen any ill effects in all my years.. I weld and fabricate all day so I’m sure my aluminum and iron levels are up but I won’t waste my money on icp test to find out when my tank is rockin!

 

[dank.reefer]

It is vary rare for me to put my hands in the tank. I use tongs or scrapers on a stick for maintenance or moving things around. On the rare instance that I do put my hands in the tank like, for gluing down a new coral or if there is some sort of spot I can't get clean with my scraper then I make sure my hands are very clean.

 

[dank.reefer]

really? i just grab the zoas and palys. no gloves no nothing.

Keep it up. You may get to learn your lesson someday. You won't ever want to experience that again. I was the same way no gloves no worries until I wasn't. Palytoxin is the main reason I don't put my hands in the tank anymore.

 

[00W]

I just go for it.
Never thought about it really.
Once you get bit enough you don't feel it anyways....

 

[Gumbies R Us]

For those that use tongs/hemostats/forceps are there any long recommended ones you have? I have 24” stainless steel hemostats and i just cannot dry them enough to prevent rusting. Looking for plastic or maybe titanium options that you guys recommend. ICP-OES came back with small amounts of chromium and I am paranoid its from my rusting SS.

I use the cheap ones off amazon. As soon as I get done using them in salt water, I take them out, wash them off in hot water, and then dry them. I haven’t had any rust on them in a few months

 

[GARRIGA]

Used to use gloves to clean water bowls for reptiles and still somehow managed to get water inside my gloves including the once reaching just under my elbow therefore even if one has gloves that reach to their arm pits it might not be good enough unless dealing with frag tanks and even those likely very low as one trying to reach something on the back wall likely struggles to keep from getting water inside the glove and if water enters than that means water made contact and went back into tank.

Wash thoroughly and call it a day my thinking and especially since atmospheric contaminants can be just as potent as hand delivered and why I'm going to experiment with hydroxyl radicals as a means of routinely treating tank water to rid it of contaminants such as pesticides. Not looking to nuke the tank. Just dilute that I inadvertently introduced by hand or air.

 

[Reef Puncher]

I never used gloves in 40 years.

That being said I wear gloves always now after being hit by a mantis ship by accident.

Couldn’t move my finger for a week.
It’s been 4 months and seems fully healed now.

Viscous piece of ……..

By I got him!!!!!!!!!

i have its smaller cousin, a pistol shrimp. i can hear him from across the hall. for the longest time i heard that click and it didnt dawn on me that it was from. i kept thinking it was a light popping from heat or something i didnt know honestly. so i bet that would hurt on one 10 times the size.

 

[aquaman67]

I have way too many bristle worms to not wear gloves.

 

[AlyciaMarie]

When I need to stick my hands in, I usually just go for it. But at the same time, I'm not putting my hands in the tank daily or even every other day. Maybe 1-2x per week.

 

[dank.reefer]

When I need to stick my hands in, I usually just go for it. But at the same time, I'm not putting my hands in the tank daily or even every other day. Maybe 1-2x per week.

Wow 1-2x a week is crazy talk for me...lol I don't think I put my hands in there 1-2x a month.

 

[AlyciaMarie]

Wow 1-2x a week is crazy talk for me...lol I don't think I put my hands in there 1-2x a month.

Usually, it's to pull out some algae or reattach a frag that was displaced by my rouge Urchin.

 

[dank.reefer]

Lol...my urchin lasted about 2 weeks. He got trapped in the back of the rocks and he was in too deep for me to save him. Also the palytoxin PTSD is real so I just had to let the hermits have unagi for dinner. Sorry mr. urchin it was fun while it lasted.

 

[Reef Puncher]

Wow 1-2x a week is crazy talk for me...lol I don't think I put my hands in there 1-2x a month.

i ended up buying some elbow length gloves on amazon this morning, for when i handle palys and zoas. just to be safe.

but on the frequency of hands in, i cant remember a day where my hands were not in my tank. my hands are in there every single day. (im still stocking corals is the main reason why, but i am killing aiptasia few times a week, or i see bristleworm and have to get them, they are hurting my torches)

 

[Reef Puncher]

I have way too many bristle worms to not wear gloves.

i just found my first bristle worms a few weeks ago. never had them before. i noticed my freaking $400 banana torch was showing skeleton and receeding. like 8 little tiny bristleworms had made their home INSIDE my torch. fast forward to 3 days ago, and my other torches were looking rough. i dipped them....same thing, like tons of bristleworms, tiny ones, fell out. they are literally housing inside my torches. i hate them so much. i never had one now i have tons. so annoying.

 

[dank.reefer]

Wow that is strange I have never seen or heard of a bristle worm infestung and eating healthy coral. I have a family of brittle stars that lIves in the top of my HG torch the largest one I have seen in there is like 5" across when fully extended. There is also an astrea snail shell in there. It would appear that he got himself stuck and the branches of the torch just grew around him. The torch is no worse for wear 14+ heads and going strong.

 

[Paul B]

I only wear a glove otherwise my two 34 year old Fireclowns will take my fingers off.

 

[OrchidMiss]

I only wear a glove otherwise my two 34 year old Fireclowns will take my fingers off.

Have a photo of the beasts?