Dipped hand in tank after cleaning countertop

[Albeez]

I mistakenly dipped my hand in the skimmer after I had been cleaning my countertop. My hand still smelled like the cleaning supplies I used to clean the countertop. My tank is only 30 gallons but I only had my hand in the tank for two seconds. How at risk am I here? I know the answer is to do a waterchange ASAP - should I be as concerned as I am??

 

[juggalogentry]

ive gave myself a scare before doing the same thing after washing my dishes with some heavy duty antibacterial soap.. scared the bejesus outta me.. and i worried and researched for a while about it, its been about a month now and no ill effects, but i do remember now to pay more attention to where my hands have been before my tank

 

[ReeferBee]

YoU should run carbon now

 

[juggalogentry]

YoU should run carbon now

+1 on the carbon and yes do a water change, running a wet skim may help too

 

[Albeez]

+1 on the carbon and yes do a water change, running a wet skim may help too

Thanks Guys - I've got a bag of purigen, no carbon though - should I run that??

 

[juggalogentry]

ive actually never herd of that before until now, and after looking it up im interested in it myself lol.. by the way they market it id assume it should work, but maybe someone more expierenced with it could chime in?

 

[NanaReefer]

PuriGen works great and get yourself a pair of these. I love these gloves! They fit great and have ruff texture fingers for grip & scrubbing

 

[saltyphish]

+1 for purigen. Great stuff though for the price I do not bother recharging it. Hate to wipe out my tank to save 8 dollars every 3 mths

 

[swk]

Purigen removes organic compounds, not toxins like carbon is capable of.

Will not do the same thing as carbon ime

 

[ReeferBee]

swk is correct, for this instance carbon is the best bet. That and a water change. Purigen would not help.

 

[mcarroll]

It certainly wasn't good for your tank, but thankfully - as the saying goes: "the solution to pollution is dilution."

The slight residue on your hands, diluted into 30 gallons was obviously not a big problem.

FWIW, you'd want to look at bacterial- and small invert-health for your "canary in the coal mine"...but that's not always too easy. Copepods would probably be the best thing to watch that you could actually see....if you already knew where to look ordinarily to find them hanging out.

+1 on using gloves when possible!

-Matt

 

[mgsr]

I am starting a tank and I here you guy talking about running carbon can someone explain can someone explain this to me for future reference.

 

[NanaReefer]

Carbon is a filter media. Used to absorb certain harmful chemicals and to improve water clarity. Can be used in HOB filters, mesh bags or placed between filter floss.

 

[mgsr]

I got wet dry system how do I use it with that

 

[Karen]

:angel::angel:

PuriGen works great and get yourself a pair of these. I love these gloves! They fit great and have ruff texture fingers for grip & scrubbing

Where do I find these? I've been looking for long gloves like this. (Sorry for the sudden off topic question.)

 

[swk]

I got wet dry system how do I use it with that

You can place some in a media bag, or a piece of pantyhose, and place it in an area that gets a good amount of flow. You're looking for "activated carbon"

Many in this hobby use media reactors for their carbon and other chemical medias. They're more effective, but pantyhose in the sump will suffice for now.

 

[nazzman]

No worries residue and your hand I doubt will affect anything unless chemicals were driping from your hand my son dropped a bar of soap in tank once and just had extra foamy skim for a while I freaked and nothing happened