Hands in Tank???

To be honest, I hardly ever wash my hands before or after tank cleaning... unless I have rinsed the filter pad and needed to rub it or if I have recently used scented hand lotion, cleaner or other chemicals. Unscented lotion (even recently applied) has never caused problems with my fish.


As for the siphon tube, I have a 40ft long tube (basically, a simpler, DIY python... but, I might add, about 4X cheaper) and sometimes I need to suck on one end to get it started... but most the time, I use the same method that sublime does. I put about a 1.5 ft section in the tank and let it fill with water, crimp one end and put my finger over the other, pull most the tubing out until it's about 1'' below the surface, remove my finger from the tip, then release the crimp... and away the water flows.
 
i use a python that hooks right to the sink turn on the sink and whala!its started on its own ...i also put my whole arms (lol) in the tank ...i do rinse but i dont go overboard and i have never lost a fish from it! and for those of you who syphon by mouth to a bucket ..check out kerosene syphones ...they are extremely cheap and have a bulb that starts the syphon my dad and i modified a brand new one of these and it works as well as my python ..we added hoses and all and when i finnaly kill my python i will be going this route as well..it actually empties a tank twice as fast ...the only downfall is that it doesn't fill my tank ...owning a fish tank 300$-1000$
buying fish food 20$
buying fish 50$
getting a mouth full of fish crap---priceless...i agree puke!
 
Sometimes you swallow fish water when you start a siphon. Done it. Try moving 2,000 lbs. of live rock around bare-handed. You get all kinds of abrasions, irritants, and critters in you hands. I wear gloves for the live rock now.
 
Oi! There's a better way to start a syphon with a gravel vac.

1) Put end of tube in sink, bucket, etc.
2) Take gravel vac tube and place, open-end-down, in tank. Drain tube should be hanging over edge of tank.
3) Holding onto opposite end of tube, point open end up towards water surface. Let it fill with water.
4) Slowly lift open end of vac tube out of water and above the level of the drain tube. Water from vac tube will push water thru drain tube, up and over edge of tank.
5) Before water in vac tube runs out, submerge open end of vac tube again.
6) Point open end of vac tube towards gravel and get ta poop draining!

Learned this my first day as an aquarium tech, works like a charm. I only employ lung-powered vacuum if I'm using a drain tube larger than 3/4" ID. Then the only requsite is to be really really fast at getting your mouth off the tube after water starts to flow.
 
If anyone thinks its gross to suck on a gravel vac in an aquarium, this should really gross you out...

I had a three acre man-made pond in front of my parents house when I was growing up. Not only was it murky brown. Not only was it stocked with catfish, crappie, bass, etc. But my father raised cattle, that would wade into it often on hot summer days. And cows are not known for holding in any of their bodily wastes.

I swam in that pool countless times. Played, partied, gagged, and sputtered for years. So did my friends, my dogs, my brother, and his friends.

The water in my aquariums is clear. And I'm pretty sure it contains no bovine pee and poo.
 
Ugh, I would never start a siphon with my mouth. My siphon tube is about 3 or 4 feet long, so I just immerse it, cap my thumb over one end and lower it into the bucket. Thank goodness for gravity!

When I worked at Petsmart back in the day, I had a coworker I was not too fond of, as he was a know-it-all kind of guy. Not really all that much more knowledgeable...just cocky. Anyway, he was doing a deep cleaning on the 50 gallon cichlid show tank and so the water was horrible, all stirred up and nasty and he restarted the siphon with his mouth. He got a HUGE mouthful of that nasty brown fish water. I almost gagged watching HIM gag and choke, but then I had to run away before I started laughing. I'm normally a very nice person, but it was very satisfying to see Mr. Expert show us how NOT to do it! :laugh:

As far as getting my hands in tanks, I'm with most of the posters in that I make sure my hands haven't been IN anything recently, and I kinda scrub 'em in plain water before I get in there, then I wash thoroughly with soap and water afterwards. I don't really worry about myself TOO much though. At the various pet stores I worked at in my life, I have spent countless hours in countless tanks scrubbing algae, rearranging tanks, catching fish, doing gravel vacs and water changes. You don't have time for gloves when you've got a fish room full of customers all wanting you to get them fish. I just made sure to wash my hands very thoroughly when I was done. I never EVER had a problem, not one single infection or irritation. Maybe I was lucky? But, I never saw any coworkers have an issue either. Bad idea for people with compromised immume systems though, that's for sure!
 
I've never been squeamish about 'dirt' when cleaning my tanks. Doesn't bother me one bit to stick my hands in the tank and even the gravel for that matter. I clean the filthy filters with my bare hands and start the siphon with my mouth. In 20 yrs I've maybe gotten water in my mouth 5 times. Even so, it didn't really bother me....I just spit it out and carry on the cleaning process. I have a much bigger problem with human waste and refuse to use a public restroom that hasn't been cleaned in awhile. People carry far worse diseases than any of my fish.
 
when it comes to the spyhon thing, no need to use your mouth, OR python. I have a self start vac. i bought it at BigAls. IT si great, just move it up and down and the starts its self. It is wicked. Sometimes i do suck if for some reason i am haveing trobles. but i try not to.....


and i wash my hands and let it rip.
 
My skin use to break out in a rash when ever I stuck my hands in the tank water. If I didn't wear gloves I'd be iching all over place. I'm allergic to a heck of alot of stuff though.

I can't live without my Aquagloves and stainless steel tongs.
 
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