Dumb Questions... but here we go.

Okay, I have a few questions. All of which are honestly stupid but i cannot find the answer.

1. I am getting a salt residue on the inner glass at the top (I had the tank not totally filled while i was working with arranging the rock)

How do I get rid of this? I read that you can wipe it off...but with what?


2. My rock was wrapped in newspaper, today I discovered a small piece of newspaper in my tank. No idea how I missed it...but do I need to be concerned?

3. When cleaning my filter (fluval 305) do I have to rinse the trays in saltwater or can I just use my tap water and then re-prime?

4 This is kind of a two part dumb question.. I have read that not washing your hands wrecks a lot of tanks. (or at least causes problems) My question is should you wash them with a soap? or just hot water? Should you wear gloves? What about if you have a cut or something could that do harm to the tank? (other than stinging)

Think that's it... i am sure Ill have more. thanks in advance

 

1 Use rodi water preferably, tap will work and a cloth
2 Remove it to be safe
3 water from tank to be discarded is best, but tap is OK just use dechlorinator to be safe
4 wearing nitrile gloves is safest, protect cuts, soap and hot water is good just rinse well

 

Normal. Some saltwater is getting splashed onto the glass. Since only water evaporates, that leaves salt.

Damp rag, damp paper towels, damp of either with vinegar if the salt is encrusted thickly

Nope

Use tap water. If you mean Prime de-chlorinator, it's not needed. If you mean to just prime the canister filter, then that's fine.

I highly recommend gloves. There are all sorts of nasties in our tanks. Palytoxins, Mycobacterium marinum, bristles from bristleworms etc. However, other people don't wear gloves. A quick search on 3Reefs search engine will give you all of our varied opinions. '

I was with soap AFTER being in my tank. Before putting my hand in my tank, I typically just scrub with water.

 

Dumb Questions... but here we go.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, I have a few questions. All of which are honestly stupid but i cannot find the answer.

1. I am getting a salt residue on the inner glass at the top (I had the tank not totally filled while i was working with arranging the rock)

How do I get rid of this? I read that you can wipe it off...but with what?

1 - I use a paper towel to brush it off, if its inside I brush it into the tank

2. My rock was wrapped in newspaper, today I discovered a small piece of newspaper in my tank. No idea how I missed it...but do I need to be concerned?

2- depends what the newspaper said? I dont think its a problem, if you have fished it out now. I recall once picking up normal tissue instead of the more absorbant paper towels to clean my skimmer neck - contact with water = instant disintigration and an hour with a fishing net trying to capture all the floating pieces = no harm came to my corals.
3. When cleaning my filter (fluval 305) do I have to rinse the trays in saltwater or can I just use my tap water and then re-prime?

3 - whats in the filter if its chemical media like carbon or GFO OK but if its biological , no, use old tank water at water change time,

4 This is kind of a two part dumb question.. I have read that not washing your hands wrecks a lot of tanks. (or at least causes problems) My question is should you wash them with a soap? or just hot water? Should you wear gloves? What about if you have a cut or something could that do harm to the tank? (other than stinging)

4- the skin also contains oils etc , so keeping hands out of the tank is ideal
using gloves is a great idea for when you need to reach in there for locating corals, super glueing etc - you dont want any soap residue on your hands so a very good rinse with hot water after using soap is a good idea IMO
Think that's it... i am sure Ill have more. thanks in advance

 

I can help you with 1,2 and 4.

1) We call it salt creep, it happens, wipe it or knock it back in, no worries.

2) Get it out, the ink could have lasting ill effects, run carbon in a reactor.

4) Many views on this. Hand soap is far more dangerous to your tank than natural skin oils, however if your hands have chemicals, bleach, detergent, perfumes, lotions, pesticide, any man made organic products.. etc etc..washoff them first.

I live and work in the sea, so my skin isn't too sensitive to nematacysts, i've never had any problems with my tank or skin, but don't monkey with things too much, you'll stress your fish.

 

On cleaning your fluval,if you want to rinse and reuse your media using the old tank water at water change time will save the good bacteria that's living in it,this goes for the prefilter sponges also.If you just want to clean the empty media baskets tap water is fine.