Dirty hands

[W Churchill]

I'm a smoker and even worse than that I occasionally handle treated timbers, the preservative treatment contains chromium; arsenic; permethrin and copper. What precautions should I be taking before putting my hands in the tank.

[caitrina]

For one you should not be putting your hands in the tank without gloves. There are/can be many dangers in these beautiful tanks we have created. Please go to the search box and enter reefkeeping dangers.

As for other precautions you should make is to wash, wash, wash, until there is no odor what so ever from your hands, then when you think there isn't wash again.

Gloves /aquarium gloves will be your friend for many reasons.

[Dentoid]

Do not put your bare hands into the tank. Use Aquagloves that cover your hands and arms for more reasons than contaminating the tank.

[caitrina]

Here I made it easier for you....

Reefkeeping Dangers

[W Churchill]

My what a lot of answers, thank you all very much.

Whilst i wouldn't want to get stung/bitten/poisoned by anything in the tank, my main reason for asking was to protect the aquarium. I've seen posts that say wear latex gloves- they don't stop you from getting wet but they stop you from getting stung.

If my hands can get wet then any poisons on my hands will get to my corals, so this doesn't seem like a very good idea. I'm happy to wash my hands umpteen times but I suspect some of the things I work with will survive that.

What about washing up gloves (marigolds), they are waterproof but are they coated with anything that can be harmful to my corals, I'm concerned some of these gloves may have light oils on them to ease your hands in etc.

I guess it sounds simple to many of you, get some gloves from the aquarium store, but this is the UK, our stores are a bit lacking in these areas and we have to often rely on our local hardware stores, who of course have no idea about keeping corals.

[kinghokus420]

i use a bright orange pair from the cleaning section of the hardware store. basically a heavy duty version of the yellow ladies cleaning gloves. i occasionally wrap a rubberband around my wrists to keep some water out. I am regularly covered in some sort of toxic filth. with a good scrubbing and the gloves, all seems good.

[caitrina]

You may try at a veterinarians also, I am sure they use gloves for working with cattle/horses and other livestock. You may be able to order some arm length disposable gloves from them. However, they are not heavy duty. which that needs to be kept in mind. I would also think Kinghokus' suggestion is good too.

[lowfi]

Kinghokus - are you saying ladies are meant to clean?

[lowfi]

HA just kidding

[Dentoid]

Originally Posted by caitrina

You may try at a veterinarians also, I am sure they use gloves for working with cattle/horses and other livestock.

They are called insemination gloves!

[caitrina]

thats them, couldn't think of the friggin name...I used these for the horses when I had them...for horse hygiene purposes....

[W Churchill]

And there's no lubricants on them that might be harmful ?

[framerguy]

Coralife Aqua Gloves (One Pair Shoulder Length Protective Gloves) (Saltwater Aquarium Supplies > Maintenance > Protective Gloves )
I use these and really like them. They are bulky though, so they're not perfect. When I get a hole in them, I just patch them with a pool patch kit. When I need to do delicate stuff I use latex gloves.

[ScubaDrew]

I have these and use them some times. it is very hard to handle something like a birds nest with them on!