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I only have a few freshwater tanks (5, 30 and 42 gal), but I got some of the hardcore marine arm-length gloves - and I LOVE them.

The hands are bright orange and the sleeves are purple - they are decently thick and a bit too big for my small hands - everytime I wear them people make jokes about if I'm about to go help a cow give birth.... but they are great!

If I need to rearrange stuff or vaccume out some extra food or put my hands in the tank for any reason - I don't need to worry about if there is leftover soap on my hands or if I used moisturizing cream, I don't need to worry about my hands drying out from dipping them in water all the time, I don't need to try to pull my sleeves way way up and have them fall down and get wet - I just pull on my gloves and I know everyone is safe and happy.

I was going to get those long tongs, but decided to try the gloves on a whim. I love them so much I thought I'd put out the idea in case other folks wanted to try them....

Melissa

Mel,

Nice post! I never think of the problems associated with cleansers and creams when I work in my tanks but I can appreciate the problems. I often get a sleeve wet when re-arranging, maybe I should get some gloves!

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

melflisha

I have never used gloves in all the 35+years. At first I thought you might have had a hand problem and saying how these gloves helped, if that is the case with any one I would certainly wear them.

As for moisturing cream I have to use it twice dayly on my face and naturally it is on my hands. My next job is to feed the fish and do any necessary work. I have been doing this for six years now and never a problem. Saying that it could be the cream I use is not a problem to my fish.

The only thing I am very cautious of is when doing any spraying in the garden/orchid house I will attend to the tank first, that is just common sense.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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Well, mostly I'm into gloves because it's easy. Certainly most folks don't use them and are fine, but I like them... that's all.

I'm of two minds about issues like hand cream and using a chemical cleaner carefully on the outside of the tank.. etc. Obviously there are folks who use windex on their tanks for years with no problem, or who wash with soap and put on creams and scents before putting their hands in their tank for years - like you - and have no problems at all. But then -- my great aunt smoked heavily from when she was 16 to when she was 95 and was fine. There is some evidence that smoking isn't bad for you.

Moral is: just because it has worked for you and your fish doesn't mean it's a good idea.

And again - my uncle exercised and didn't smoke and was healthy and died of a heart attack young. There is evidence that exercising and being healthy will kill you.

Moral is still: the experience of one person is not a scientific study and is hard to generalize from.

BUT?

The other side is that I'm risk averse. While it makes sense to be careful, sometimes I'm TOO careful and there is no need for everyone to be nuts. I know folks who have been psycho overprotective with their kids and it's not fun for anyone.

Moral on this side: 'Being careful' taken too far isn't fun or helpful, and yelling at other people to be careful usually accomplishes nothing positive.

So basically I have no idea if hand cream is a problem. Obviously it would depend on the hand cream. Red dye #4 causes cancer and most kids ate it for years and won't get cancer. Who knows. Lots of kids get asthma now and it's probably because of a combination of lots of trace "safe" amounts of pollution. Who knows. We could argue about these things forever, but only because we don't really know the answer. We have beliefs, but we don't really know. Nobody argues about if falling off the roof is good for you, or eating poisen, or getting hit by a car at 70mph - why? Because we KNOW those things are bad for you.

I don't know about hand cream. I just know I like my gloves a lot

Hmmm someones mentioned gloves before...my nails and hands become very dry even from regular tap water, tank water makes them feel like they've been burried in the sahara no matter how much nail oil I use afterwards...it gets to the point where I sometimes dread doing tank maintence >.< .

^_^



[hr width='40%']"I'm alright, I'm alright
It only hurts when I breathe"

It's the continual wet sleeves that bother me the most, particularly over the cooler months when you've got long sleeves so the gloves sound like they'd fix that problem.
Thanks Melissa
*looks around for these gloves*

I think I have the same type of gloves you have (at least they are the same color) and they are wonderful! Since I've started using them my hands aren't nearly as dried and cracked as they used to be. And it also helps to keep your sleeves out of the water. I highly recommend them.