If you HAVE to use soap............

[MrSandman]

Sometimes my hands are pretty dirty coming home from work or doing things around the house, that i have to use soap to clean em. Can anyone recommend any brand of soap which would be considered safe to use on your hands prior to putting them in the tank? The obvious types NOT to use would be anything heavily fragranced, with oils or conditioners. Anyone?

[FishBait]

Well...wether u must use soap or not, why not think about a pair of gloves to use? That way it wouldn't matter if you still have residue or not. I honestly don't know of any soap that is "reef safe" (hey there's a concept :D )

[billsreef]

Tide detergent is the only safe one :D j/k

In all seriousness though, I use alcohol jell. It leaves no residues.

[SCRUBBER]

Beleive it or not I run my hands under water with bleach!
Then I use amquell on my hands after to break the bleach down. I figure this out bleaching coral skelitons at work.








Groe corals in captivity before there gone so our kids can enjoy them to!

[O'Man]

Please consider my comment to contain all the leagal BS and disclaimers.

Ivory is a mild soap, and is what we use in my house. I cannot report any known problems.

About a year and a half ago, I had a rio meltdown and contaminate all my tubing, skimmer and tank (specifically, this black ooze, melted plastic or oil or whatever, left a "ring" around the top of my tank.

I used Simple Green to clean-up everything. I drained some water out of my tank and used SG on a paper towel to clean-up the residue. I also flushed all my tubing and skimmer with SG and water. I got rid of all the rio gunk, and cannot report any problems knowingly related to the Simple Green.

BTW, I use Simple Green to clean the livewell on my boat and cannot report any problems in this area either.

[brad]

Any brand of soap has pretty much the same stuff in it. My question is why do you need to use soap? If your hands are dirty, water should work okay - and if your hands are so bad they don't look clean without soap, I wouldn't put them in the tank becuase of the dirt. Don't forget, the 'dirt' (depending on what it is) on your hands is probably better for the reef than the soap.


What I do (maybe not reef-safe) is rinse my hands in really hot water - this removes just about any dirt, as well as oil from my skin. Then I dunk them in salt water (if I have any sitting around) to get the last bit of oil off. Now I don't have to use gloves. While I don't know if this is completely safe, I do notice a difference from when I just wash my hands. Gloves don't seem to make as much difference - I guess oils still get out, and my arms are uncovered as well.

[johnny]

I still think this whole soap thing is just a bunch of nonsense. Not including perfumed soaps of course which contain nasty chemicals.

But c'mon... how is soap going to hurt your tank? There are only two ways...

1) the soap creates a film on the surface which prevents the exchange of gasses. If you rinse your hands there's no way you'd have enough soap residue to create the "oil slick" (exception might be a nano tank). Also, our tanks can easily go for an hour without the exchange of gasses ... and that is if you do not have a skimmer... which would exchange gasses even if the surface had a film on it, also the skimmer would get rid of the soap residue before that hour came along if you have a surface skimmer such as an overflow.

2) If your fish/inverts went to the top of the tank to feed either on the soap itself or on food and got the soap on their skin or in their stomachs... then there may be a chemical in the soap that would have some sort of an affect on them... very small chance though.

I ALWAYS wash my hands with soap (ivory or dove) before going into my tank. I'd be much much much more worried about those pennies you were playing with or the rusty doorknob you touched to enter your room, etc.

Don't get me wrong... make sure to wash your hands and rinse them very well as it is still better to have NO soap in the tank, but don't go to the extent of putting whatever could be on your hands in the tank just to avoid getting soap in it.

The things like the alcohol gel etc are probably much safer roots... but washing your hands, then using bleach, then using amquel, etc etc ? c'mon!

JMO.

Nick

[RhondaJ]

I have been washing my hands with soap before putting them in the tank for 5 yrs. I just make sure I rinse them very well, then I run them under the RO unit to take any clorine off just to be safe. I have never had any problems.

[6-line]

Hi,
I'm not positive, but Jim Hobbs named a relatively reef safe soap...maybe it was Nutrigena? If he reads this maybe he'll chime in.

[DeepBlueSea]

OK, Let me stir up the water.... No pun intended.

I can't say that I wash my hand's every time I put them in the water. However, I can say I haven't lost anything because oil or soap have been on my hands.

I'll even go as far to say, that I have been known to get my daughter ready for bed, lube her up with baby lotion, go downstairs and rinse my hands for a few seconds under hot water and put them in the tank without noticable difference to the tanks livestock. I can't say that I spend much time washing my hands, it's not like I'm scraping under my fingernails everytime I put my hands in the tank.

I'm mindful of it, if I have just put colonge or something, but honestly, I'm not overly concerned.


Deep Blue

[CaptainMac]

I'm with those that don't worry about it too much. I do think one of the safer soaps to use would be Castile soap. It's environmentally friendy, is biodegradable (good for camping) and is the soap used in a soap suds enema (not that anyone really wanted to know that:D).

Cap

[Vilas]

I lost a cichlid tank to antibacterial soap and a misguided fish sitter. Apparently, rocks need to be scrubbed a lot. Whatever you do, make sure you're NOT putting antibacterial stuff in there!

[SawCJack00]

When I wash my hands it's with Ivory, but I also don't worry about it toomuch. If I haven't had my hands in any chemicals or other nasties, I don't usually bother with soap. Just a quick rinse at the faucet. I have purchased some of the heavey duty gloves that go up to your shoulders from Coralife. They're very nice for working with LR and other "non-delicate" work, but for using your fingers, they're too bulky. They definitely prevent oils or other contaminants from getting in the water from your hands, and also keep you completely dry since they are 28" long each.

[docmal]

I agree with Johnny. Nonsense. If you have a tank bigger than 10 gallons you need not worry about soap residue on your hands. Think about all the airborne chemicals we would worry about if we worried about things as small as soap particles. If you put soapy water in your tank you would worry but not just film from your hands. It's just to little to make a difference.

[Smitty91]

Captain Mac

ROTFLMAO!! I guess either no one caught that or cared to comment!:D LOL

Fellas, I don't know who buys the soap in your house, but, my wife does in ours. Let me tell ya, we haven't had a handsoap yet that didn't make me want go back outside and rub some grease on them just to avoid smelling like, well, ya know....foo-fooey! :D

I'm with those that think the soap thing is a little more hype than truthful. Same with smoking. (I know, I know) But, neither washing my hands first or having recently smoked a cigarette and sticking them in the tank after has caused any due harm, that I can physically see.

I suppose one could argue that maybe some sorta microlife / fauna might be impacted, but then again, IMO that's a desparate arguement and who cares! LOL If it hasn't produced undesirable results by now, it ain't gonna. And I don't run a skimmer!

I figure if anything, washing the hands before dipping is going to remove more of what I don't want in the tank than a little soap residue.

Just my thoughts.

Smitty :)

[johnny]

Smitty,

I disagree... I've heard many a times that if you smoke a lot near a fishtank, everything seems to become blurry... oh wait... that's from all the coughing! :D

You gotta kick that habit before it kicks you bud!

Nick

[DJREEF]

I actually use Palmolive dish soap, just a dab. Then rinse the crap out of my hands with warm water for a minute or two. It's phosphate free, so at least I don't have to worry about that. And it's real cheap.

DJ

[Smitty91]

Nick

Thanks for the concern. Threw in the (I know, I know) for that very reason, cause I knew it was coming. :)

I think I'll go broke first from all the taxes being added to tobacco. Soon, only the rich will be able to afford to smoke. That won't include me!

Smitty :)