How often are your hands in your tank?

[Ento-Reefer]

In the past I have always noticed that whenever I go away on a trip for work for 1-2 weeks my tank always looks amazing when I come home. I attributed this to me not being around to constantly put my hands in the tank. I tend to be a little OCD and seem to always be needing to "fix" something.

With my new tank I have decided to try to be a little more hands off. I realized last night that I have had my hands in the tank everyday tweaking things and I need to stop. I will still do maintenance and cleaning the glass, but I am going to try and just let things be unless there is a real need for me to move something or put my hands in the tank.

How often do you have your hands in the tank? Have you noticed a difference when you keep them out?

 

[Crabs McJones]

In the past I have always noticed that whenever I go away on a trip for work for 1-2 weeks my tank always looks amazing when I come home. I attributed this to me not being around to constantly put my hands in the tank. I tend to be a little OCD and seem to always be needing to "fix" something.

With my new tank I have decided to try to be a little more hands off. I realized last night that I have had my hands in the tank everyday tweaking things and I need to stop. I will still do maintenance and cleaning the glass, but I am going to try and just let things be unless there is a real need for me to move something or put my hands in the tank.

How often do you have your hands in the tank? Have you noticed a difference when you keep them out?

Generally my hands only go in the tank on water change day. And even then it's not really in the display tank as much as in the sump. Changing out filter socks, emptying skimmer cup, cleaning pumps ect.. My hand only goes in the tank slightly to get the inside piece of my mag scrubber on the inside or if I need to remove a vortech head for cleaning. Otherwise I try to keep hands out

 

[jda]

Every day. This is mostly because my fish like to make frags of some of my acros and I go in to fish them out. The tongs stopped working when the corals got to where there were no more straight shots at the sand. I DO NOT change things every day, though... just fish out frags, mount them and put them in the frag tank. I probably have not changed much in a few years. It is like bonsai-type therapy with the frags.

 

[CNDReef]

Mine are in mine at least 3x a week
I try not to but it always ends up happening, something gets turned over or pushed into something else all the time. Need to invest in some long forceps

 

[MarineMalecki]

Mine are usually in only twice a week when I do general maintenance. I have a pair of arm-length rubber gloves that I wear which enables me to have hands in the tank without having my hands touch the water.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

Every day. This is mostly because my fish like to make frags of some of my acros and I go in to fish them out. The tongs stopped

This is part of my problem and also the tank is a new upgrade so I am still trying to figure out the best spots for my corals and new frags. I am hoping to keep my hands out for at least a week

 

[jda]

Having your hands in there is no issue. The metaphor of "hand-out" is for not messing-with/changing stuff... tuning your skimmer, moving huge rocks, temp changes, etc. Just putting your hands in the tank is no problem. In over two decades, I have never washed my hands before working on my tank or going frag-fishing... there is nothing on your hands that will mess your tank up... I have had mine in there after working on cars, yard work including glyphosate, etc.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

Having your hands in there is no issue. The metaphor of "hand-out" is for not messing-with/changing stuff... tuning your skimmer, moving huge rocks, temp changes, etc. Just putting your hands in the tank is no problem. In over two decades, I have never washed my hands before working on my tank or going frag-fishing... there is nothing on your hands that will mess your tank up... I have had mine in there after working on cars, yard work including glyphosate, etc.

I am not meaning regular maintenance stuff, just something I have noticed and was wondering about what other people do. In all my years in the hobby I have always given my hands a quick rinse at least before going in the tank, especially if I have just come from work or doing something that might leave my hands dirty. You can never be too careful.