Gloves when dipping hands in tank?

[Cthulukelele]

i second the shoulder length gloves ESPECIALLY if you're stirring stuff up or have any cuts/scrapes on your hands. I'm less concerned about fouling the water with 170 gallons of water volume and more worried about opportunistic infection.

 

[RaymondL]

I'm overwhelmed at the response to my posting - great to hear all your feedback. I'm assuming any latex or rubber glove inside the tank is safe, and ones sold and branded as Aquarium safe might be more marketing?

 

[Gedxin]

I'm overwhelmed at the response to my posting - great to hear all your feedback. I'm assuming any latex or rubber glove inside the tank is safe, and ones sold and branded as Aquarium safe might be more marketing?

Nitrile imo offers the best flexibility and protection. Don't bother with anything else.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

The same answer as usual, no gloves unless I knowingly have a open wound, then I avoid the tank in general if I can help it.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

20 years no gloves. Cumbersome. Not in my tank a lot. Best to plan ahead w aqua scape and coral placement to facilitate this practice.

 

[afrokobe]

even though, I am super diligent about wearing gloves, I still managed to get stung by a bristleworm when redoing my rock work. First time experiencing and will definitely be keeping the gloves lol. Not sure how many other times I would have gotten stung without them.

 

[ReefGuard Systems]

I usually have my hands in the tank before I remember to put gloves on

 

[Joj]

I have the coral vue aqua gloves for when I need major reaquascaping to not get tiny cuts moving the rocks (the these gloves are pretty bulky and cumbersome for prcision work.

Otherwise, I mainly use tongs and wooden kabob stickers to move stuff where precision isn't really needed.

I'll go bare hand only if precision is needed.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Same here - these clowns are krazy - more like piranhas they are.

My yellow tail damsel in the one who parana's me!

 

[Derrick0580]

I don’t wear gloves 99 % of the time. But I do keep calfing glove that are shoulder length and really thin. You can buy at tractor supply. I have them for times I’m working on greasy engines or have cuts. Not sure what they call them , but will be by the medication isle in livestock.

I bought some of these thinking they would stave off clownfish attacks! They do work for that purpose but I have found for gloves they sure aren’t water tight and I end up getting mad and tanking them off anyway as I eventually feel like I have water ballons for fingers when I am trying to work in my tank. Now it’s a 2 man job….me spot feeding/gluing plugs down while my wife chases my male clown away with a net. 85% of the time he is so focused on biting me that she just scoops him up in the net.

 

[ScionFRSguy]

For those of who are not wearing gloves, what do you use to wash your hands? I put my hands in the tank without gloves from time to time and use dishwasher soap then give it a good rinse for about 40 seconds or so. I wish I can find fragrant free dishwasher soap but to no avail so I just use what I have in the kitchen.

For OP: I use regular dishwashing gloves that come to about by elbow but not passed it; the water tends to get inside the gloves. Thanks for your post! I'm going to seriously consider using coralife aqua gloves or something else similar I just found on amazon (ECLATLT Aiboco 28 Inches Aquarium Water Change Long Warm PVC Maintenance Gloves Carton Lined Waterproof, Chemical Resistant, Pond,Work,Garden). For those who are thinking of using regular dishwashing gloves, these gloves has a strong rubber scent out of the box. This is why you want to allow these gloves to soak salt water (waste water from water change) for a least about a week to break them in. I've been using them for a few years now with no problems from what I can tell but that doesn't mean that it's not having some sort of minor negative reaction each time I use them so for this reason, I would say stick to the gloves that says "aquarium safe" just to be on the safe side.

 

[Dburr1014]

I have gloves but only use them if I'm dealing with my paly.
I need to feel most of the time. You can't feel with gloves on.

 

[Katherine Corals]

I use shoulder high gloves when completing tank maintenance, and I use hand size surgical gloves like those found in the hospital for coral fragging.

 

[Homey D. Clownfish]

Depends on what you’re doing, I guess. If it’s just regular maintenance/water change, I don’t. I just run my hands and arms under tap water (no soap—especially if it’s antibacterial). If I’m handling coral I may, depending on the type of coral. I have a nice pair of gloves I found on Amazon that go up to the elbows, but honestly the only time I’ve used them was when unpackaging live rock for the first time that was overnighted to my door.

 

[toadfarm]

I've never worn gloves. Maybe i should. I do make sure that my hands are clean before going in. I have been nipped by one clown, it startled me more than actually hurt.

 

[srobertb]

I"m curious how many here all wear gloves when working in the tank for whatever reason. For example, commercial gloves for aquariums such as coralife aqua gloves - they are expensive no

I"m curious how many here all wear gloves when working in the tank for whatever reason. For example, commercial gloves for aquariums such as coralife aqua gloves - they are expensive no doubt!

I have a particularly skittish Foxface Lo so I tried cut proof gloves but they got soaked… I use nitrile gloves whenever I remember. I have a box “floating” around the tank All the time from Amazon. My wife is an ER doctor and there has been a recent uptick in palytoxin cases in the US so she always reminds me and insists on it when present. TBH if I’m just doing something quick, I don’t use them. Fragging? Definite yes.

 

[danenelsen]

I never use gloves. I don't have corals just a Fowlr tank, so I don't know if you would need to if you had corals.

 

[hubble]

I have these but I haven't got to use them yet.... https://www.thepondguy.com/product/the-pond-guy-aqua-gloves/

 

[Southswell]

I generally always wear dishwashing gloves when I reach into the tank. Mainly because I work with my hands and I don't want to contaminate it but I also regularly have cuts on my hands as well

 

[ripcord]

No gloves in the sump, but nitrile gloves in the main display with rubberbands around my wrist to keep water out of the glove.