Those Bright Yellow Gloves :P / Lookin for Floaters, LOL

[OceanMaiden]

You guys know those yellow rubbermaid gloves for cleaning? Would a brand new pair be good for tank cleaning. They would be marked fish and used on nothing but the fishtank. Would this be ok or would they hurt the tank? Also I am wondering if anyone has any frogbit and duckweed clippings for a reasonable price I can grow in my tank as I dont have any floating or top cover plants as yet. Thanks in Advance for all youre wonderful help guys!! You're the greatest!!

 

[joannde]

Hi - why do you want to wear gloves at all ? They make it very difficult to feel what's going on.

Re duckweed - be VERY careful. Once you have it its nearly impossible to get rid of. They don't call it duck-WEED for nothing

You might also want to post in the Barter / Trade forum for the plants.

 

[OceanMaiden]

I wanted to wear gloves because I have an uncanny knack for cutting my hands and or fingers. Wearing gloves means less chance of introducing yucky new bacterias to open wounds. LOL Yeah I know duckweed grows like crazy, but then I'll have plenty of clippings to offer others here once I get some growing. I like frogbit though withits cute little leaves everywhere. I'll try to post in barter trade later today. Thanks Joannde, If anyone else knows anything let me know, got to go!!

 

[JeffreyL]

glovesw

The gloves would be fine, just put them on & wash your hands (gloves on) thoroughly, and rinse even better. Latex gloves, like you get at the drug store might be a better choice. Better feeling and dexterity.

Be very careful with duckweed. Get 2 or 3 and in a month you will be running a net all over the top of the tank. If you keep up with it, it is kinda neat. I just ignored it for too long. Plus it sticks to everything!!!! Joannde was right. As usual.

 

[JRagg]

If you get latex gloves make sure they're non-powdered. It seems obvious, but it could lead to a heck of a mess having that stuff in the tank.

 

[DarylF2]

Accoring to Ecology of the Planted Aquarium (which I am nearly done reading, and highly recommend) a number of plants inhibit the growth of Duckweed through the release of allelochemicals.

Nuphar lutea (yellow water lilly) killed Duckweed!

Nymphaea odorata (white water lilly), Myriophyllum aquaticum (Parrotfeather), Cabomba carolina, Brasenia schreberi (water shield), and a number of other plants strongly inhibited Duckweed.

While the entire book is interesting (if a bit technical at times), the Allelopathy chapter in particular is a fascinating read...

More on topic (a real challenge for me... LOL), I bought a pair of these gloves from Drs. Foster & Smith and really like them. $15 gets you a pair of them, and they are LONG, going up well beond the elbow (mine go nearly to my shoulder).

 

[joannde]

Those long gloves are neat, but they look really thick, I sort of like to feel whats going on (btw, guppies really really tickle when they try to taste you LOL). I like the idea of the medical gloves. I have a box and just looked at them - I was going to offer you some - but they're powdered

 

[Mosaic]

I like the Foster andd Smith gloves. They also have these disposable ones, which aren't as heavy. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=8162&N=2004+113166
You need long ones unless you have a very small tank, otherwise they'll just fill up with water. That sorta defeats the purpose of gloves, I think.

I just got the same book, Daryl! Makes my head hurt at times, but its still fascinating. Wish the set-up chapter was more in-depth. That's what I really need help with.

As a note, I managed to kill duckweed. I bought about a compacted half cup of it, put in in all my tanks, and it died. I don't think it was due to allelopathy though, since some of the tanks were bare besides the duckweed.
I was glad to get rid of it though - clogged up the filter intakes.

 

[verucaproduce]

I wouldn't use the rubbermaid ones, as they come with a powder inside and aren't very long. It would seem that you would easily contaminate your tank that way.

 

[OceanMaiden]

ok, I guess I'll get the long elbow length non powdered doctor type gloves,

Does that sound safe?

 

[fish_4_all]

Water lettuce would be a good top water plant and propogates really fast or so I have read. It would also be large enough not to clog filters. Anacharis/elodea will make a nice blanket of top water plants in a hurry. I don't know anything about frogbit so I can't say.

Here is a site I found that has some others as well as the ones mentioned. I really like the look of the Azolla californiana.

I just don't like duckweed so I thought I would go search for ones that might be better. Frogbit could actually be a very good one now that I have seen it and know that the leaves are a lot larger than duckweed.

Best way to get some is to place a wanted add in barter trade forum. As for the gloves, I don't know because I have never used them but I would think the form fitting ones that come in the purple color might work best. My dad buys them for fairly cheap and they aren't powdered.

 

[OceanMaiden]

Thanks for the water lettuce idea and the cool web link fish 4 all. As for the gloves, you can get them in purple, and non powdered??!! Where does your dad go shopping for them at, and what section of the store are they in? I Love purple! Let me know if you find out the details from your dad. Ta for now!

 

[fish_4_all]

I believe he gets them at Costco, they have to be powderless because the powder would get on the ceramics and mess up the firing. I will ask him and let him know.

czcz showed me this one and I think it is absolutely awesome for a floating plant.
Phyllanthus fluitans and a couple others. I think the lettuce root system is awesome but I love the color of the fluitans.