Honestly, I try to wear gloves, but half the time I end up just rolling up my sleeves and diving in barehanded out of sheer impatience. Yeah, I know, not the safest move—especially with all those sneaky bristle worms and random things that like to poke, sting, or just plain make you itch for hours. But man, those big thick aquarium gloves always feel like working with oven mitts on, and suddenly I’ve got the dexterity of a T-Rex. Picking up little frags or re-positioning that one stubborn piece of live rock? Forget about it.
That said, after having one too many mystery stings and seeing some of those gnarly infection pics online (seriously, don't Google that), I try to be smarter. If I know I’m going to be digging around where I can’t see, or handling something that looks sketchy, I’ll definitely pull the gloves out. Otherwise, I’m probably just being overconfident and lazy, which isn’t exactly a great combo around saltwater tanks. I guess at the end of the day, it's like seatbelts: you don’t think you need them until you really, really do. So yeah, I’d recommend gloves… even if I personally don’t always have the patience for them!