How often are your hands in the tank?

[cheeks69]

Originally Posted by Reefstick

I am with you on this one, I can't keep my hands out, plus my wife likes to mess with it too....... Should we try to keep our hands out???????

Yes we should...lol
Anthony Calfo mentions that you can be exposed to several types of serious diseases and allergic reactions to some Corals. Never put your hands in there with an open wound. Also the oils from your hand can have a negative affect on skimmer effluent. I'm not usually allergic to anything but this is what happened to my arm when it came in contact with my Hammer

[Reefstick]

I guess we've been very lucky.
Gloves it is.

[Snelly40]

damn, yeah i got stung by my frogspawn prety bad one day too. nothing like that though. Damn Cheeks Karma for the wound

[Witfull]

worst sting for me was a Ritterii anemone....wrapped around my arm,,,then the clowns started biting me. from that day on,,i was an evil invader that must be attacked with extreme prejudice each and every time my hand went in the tank. eventually, i had to replace all the clowns with new ones.

[Rougiem]

Originally Posted by Witfull

worst sting for me was a Ritterii anemone....wrapped around my arm,,,then the clowns started biting me. from that day on,,i was an evil invader that must be attacked with extreme prejudice each and every time my hand went in the tank. eventually, i had to replace all the clowns with new ones.

Hey Witty...bet they just thought you tasted good...

[Witfull]

i am a sweetie~

[trigger1121]

I, also, try to keep my hands out of my tank. Not only have I read it puts many toxins in my tank, but I have an unfreindly Humuhumu Trigger that I think would love to get a piece of my finger.

[misbehavior]

At least once a week for me. can't help it.

[Stalwart]

My hands are in there all the time

My excuse(s)
Snails
Urchins
I am adding/leaching trace elements of garlic
water changes
feeding clip
rearranging frags

But mostly I am just trying to convince that damn anemone to sit still

[HowardW]

I always use elbow length powder free latex dishwashing gloves or my Coralife Aquagloves and never put my hands or arms in my tanks.

Skin oils, soap residue, small hairs on your hands & arms, phosphates leaching from your skin, etc. yuk!

[jowgafist]

im in there everyday too...i'd go snorkeling in it if i could. lol

[Cougra]

I put my hands in as seldom as possible. I am allergic to some things in my tank and I don't fancy another trip to the doctors because of it. (I'm not talking about the itchy feeling you get from the salt but serious red streaks moving up my arms and serious rashes as posted above) When I do have to put my hands in for any reason I use long gloves.

Just because you aren't allergic to something in the tank today, does NOT mean that you wont be allergic to it tomorrow. You can easily develop allerges to anything if you are expossed to it enough. You are more susseptable to developing allerges if you have any sort of open wounds on your hands when you put them in the tank. This includes minor things like a red scratch with only a couple layers of skin broken or a recent mosquitoe bite or torn hangnail. I don't have many allerges so it came as a big shock (and disappointment) when I developed them from playing in my tank!

I've noticed that my tank does better without me messing about all the time as well.

[iamkellogg]

I wear gloves because the water bothers my skin.

Kelly

[harleychic]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

Well I really try not to and use the tongs as much as possible in the reef, but I recently discovered that my seahorses like to wrap around my finger and I just can't resist.

Awwww, how can you not love that!

[tbittner]

With a foxface swimming around in there though, I'm pretty wary about reaching in there once a day to clip on the seaweed treat for the tangs!