Moderate Consumption of Reef Water

[Pinnochio5]

Hi All,

So today as I was multi-tasking; water-change and coral acclimation, I managed to receive dose of reef water through sucking on the cyphon and drip valve to pull up water. I spit most of it out, but is this harmless? Just as long as I spit it out right. or should I start using a hand pump?

My tank levels are good lol. But, for my inhabitants, not for me. :mrgreen:

Thanks,

Pinnochio5

[globaldesigns]

I personally wouldn't worry about it. As you stated you spit it out.

[CaptainYooh]

Oh-oh...:drinking:

[Maverick00]

lol, i actually wondered about that myself, after seeing little organisms running around on the glass panes with a handheld microscope.. i stopped "manually siphoning" (after getting a few mouth rinses myself) the same day and now use a pump.

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

the saltwater from your tank is not any better than directly from the ocean,how many of us had swallowed that ocean water while swimming :biggrin: i had it few times as a kid learning how to swim or playing in the ocean.:lol:

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

Oh by the way welcome to Canreef.:biggrin:

[cathyg_99]

it wont hurt you even if you were to drink it (dont know why you would) i just dont do it i got a hand pump it just makes me think of creepy crawly's and itchy! ugh!

[Pinnochio5]

Oh by the way welcome to Canreef.:biggrin:

Thanks! I'm a member of nano-reef.com as well. Disappointed I didn't find this forum earlier, ITS GREAT! Its loaded with as much of the great content as nano-reef.com, plus its Canadian. :biggrin:

[pyke]

you'll only do it a few times before you get to where you dont get a mouth full. I have definitly drank a few shot glasses in the time I have had the tank.

Bottoms up!

[Delphinus]

It's worse to get FW tank water in your mouth. SW just tastes .. well .. salty. Besides, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger ... right? Something like that anyhow. :lol:

Sometimes I use a syringe to start a drip siphon when acclimating someone. For water changes if you're using a siphon hose with a little flapper thing then all you have to do is give the tube a few shakes and the siphon starts.

[abcha0s]

I agree with everyone else that the water is generally harmless; although harmful bacteria can on rare occasion be found in our tanks. The odds are certainally in favor of the water being safe, but not 100% of the time.

I would point out that if there was something bad in your water, spitting it out wouldn't really be much protection from anything. I can think of several analogies to illustrate that point, but I will refrain. Considering the acids in your stomach, bacteria probably has less of a chance of surviving there then it would in your mouth.

I personally start my siphons by sucking on the house, but make your own decision. Don't assume that the water in your tank is harmless just because I haven't got sick from the water in my tank.

- Brad

[mike31154]

I'm sure we've all cleaned out our skimmers from time to time. We all know what our fish do in the water... What you're tasting is a highly diluted solution of what rises to the top of your skimmer. As mentioned, our bodies have immune systems, but clearly we're not immune to everything. Now that you're all grossed out, if you can get over the icky factor, probably not a whole lot of harm done, you may even be immunizing yourself in a rudimentary way. There are those who say every kid should eat a mouthful of dirt once in their lifetime, builds tolerance & immunity. In the end we're individuals and all have different tolerances towards certain things. Probably best to avoid too many shots of your tank water.

[pscott99]

If you don't want to invest in a pump just submerge tubing in a bucket of water, hold both ends, put one in the tank and the other below and suction begins naturally. A little water mess from the wet tubing but it works. No salty taste. :biggrin:

[Aquaria]

I wouldn't worry about it lol it's nothing to me as I got cats and scooping there litter is much more disgusting to me lol I'll take a mouth full of seawater over that any day

[Funky_Fish14]

I think that, as abcha0s mentioned, there are very few things to worry about in your tank... potentially some rarely occuring bacteria... and also the risk of picking up a coral toxin out of the water. The water, the fish poop, the salt... it really is all harmless. I dont enjoy the salty taste... but I have to say that my FW tanks, I would drink out of them any day of the week. I do waterchanges (including cleaning most of the filters) every 5-7 days, with R/O water. I use a 1" ID, 5' piece of spaflex to get the water out... that moves fast, and it isn't rare for me to get a face-full of water nevermind a mouthful. Those fresh tanks even taste good actually! (better than our drinkable well-water).

Anyways im just rambling... but I dont think theres much to worry about. I get the occasional mouthful of water from fresh and salt tanks... I dont have any issues. I used to use pumps, submerging the hose, shaking the ones with flaps... and opted to go back to the good 'ol mouth technique.

Cheers,

Chris

[shrimpchips]

Ever eat anything raw from the sea? As someone said earlier, you're probably better off drinking from your reef than you are from your planted tank.

And I'm surprised no one's brought this down to Brett's level yet. So I'll say it.

Spit it out or swallow it, you still got it in your mouth.

[DiverDude]

You've heard all the commercials for the 'probiotic' yogurts on the market ?

Well, you just got a month's worth in a mouthful. :mrgreen:

You'll be fine -probably even good for you.

[hound96]

i agree with everyone , you should be fine i myself was syphoning my neighbor sump in his reef tank and swallowed a good and chewy mouthfull , it happened so fast i didnt have a chance to spit however its a good thing there was a bucket right beside me cuz it all came right back out , tasted nasty but i didnt even get an upset stomache i was fine the next day

[chewie]

I just hope you didn't spit it back into the tank. Now that would be harmful...lol.
I have had my few mouth washes and I am still alive although I can now breath under water due to the gills I grew....:mrgreen:

[Funky_Fish14]

I'm surprised no one's brought this down to Brett's level yet....

:lol:

[toytech]

Ever gone snorkeling ? You always end up drinking a fair amount there , wont ever stop me from climbing back in . Even if you tank is full of some kind of nasty fish disease your not a fish so don't worry.

[Wayne]

I always worried because its synthetic salt mix... Does anyone know what they do to the salt or where it comes from?

[Edmonton newbie]

I agree with everyone else that the water is generally harmless; although harmful bacteria can on rare occasion be found in our tanks. The odds are certainally in favor of the water being safe, but not 100% of the time.

I would point out that if there was something bad in your water, spitting it out wouldn't really be much protection from anything. I can think of several analogies to illustrate that point, but I will refrain. Considering the acids in your stomach, bacteria probably has less of a chance of surviving there then it would in your mouth.

I personally start my siphons by sucking on the house, but make your own decision. Don't assume that the water in your tank is harmless just because I haven't got sick from the water in my tank.

- Brad

id just like to know how brad gets the siphons going by sucking his house? could you please post a quick video of this brad

[Rogue951]

Don't worry about it unless u have a weak immune system and open sores in your mouth. Rinse with listerine.
If youre really worried dilute with fresh water.
might have a night of the runs but not gonna kill you. (assuming u don't dose abnormally)

[Pinnochio5]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was just a little jumpy after reading all that stuff about those palytoxins, :yuck: . Definitely not going to do it anymore when I get my Zoas. Now only to find a hand pump with a suction probe small enough to fit into my drip acclimation tube.

[abcha0s]

id just like to know how brad gets the siphons going by sucking his house? could you please post a quick video of this brad

It took me a while to figure out what you were getting at. It seemed like my statement was pretty reasonable, and then i saw the typo :smile:
So yeah, good for a laugh. Ill work on putting that video together..

[dacookster]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was just a little jumpy after reading all that stuff about those palytoxins, :yuck: . Definitely not going to do it anymore when I get my Zoas. Now only to find a hand pump with a suction probe small enough to fit into my drip acclimation tube.

I just posted a similar subject/question to the "cautions" sticky. Glad to hear I'm not the only one with a mouthful from time to time. Anyways, from what I've researched, the zoas need to be quite disturbed to release such toxins, like fragging etc. So, as precautions, sure, handle with gloves and eye protection, but I've never seen a LFS employee grab a zoa frag with gloves on!!:wink: Actually, one even told me I was being ridiculous after mentioning the palytoxin scenario.

[abcha0s]

Here's the response I posted in the Marine Aquarium Cautions:

Anyone ever accidently got aquarium water in the mouth? My aquarium is small and difficult to syphon from so usually I start it manually. Wasn't paying attention a few times and ended up with a mouthful. Anyways, I'm still alive but was wondering if i'm the only idiot to do such a thing.

Normally I wouldn't care, but this is a thread about the risks of salt water aquariums.

PUTTING WATER FROM YOUR TANK IN YOUR MOUTH IS A VERY BAD IDEA!

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-07/sp/feature/index.php

- Brad

PS. Don't be nieve in believing that your tank can't hurt you. You could get very very sick. We all take risks, including me, but don't think they aren't risks. Do whatever you want with your tank, but don't pretend that they are not dangerous. Even more importantly, don't tell other people that the water is harmless. Let each person make their own decisions based on knowledge and logic. People do get sick. If you get sick, let it be because you choose to ignore the facts.

[dacookster]

Here's the response I posted in the Marine Aquarium Cautions:

PS. Don't be nieve in believing that your tank can't hurt you. You could get very very sick. We all take risks, including me, but don't think they aren't risks. Do whatever you want with your tank, but don't pretend that they are not dangerous. Even more importantly, don't tell other people that the water is harmless. Let each person make their own decisions based on knowledge and logic. People do get sick. If you get sick, let it be because you choose to ignore the facts.

Well thats exactly why I made this post, because I know there are dangers, but I would feel a lot less anxious around my tank knowing others have goofed and not become mortally ill. So, from now on I probably will do syphoning with a hand pump, and wash my hands really good, which I do anyways.