Men can be very defensive! Wait till things calm down and then approach the subject from a different angle
Don't tell him he's done something wrong exactly, but just set out the cleaning regime. To be honest it might be better to have a cage without tubes - a simple open cage with floor toys like cardboard or hyacinth tubes out of natural things.
Hamsters are very clean little things and when they have normal behaviours and space to create an environment themselves, they will use a litter tray, keep their nest clean and even rearrange substrate sometimes. That way they don't need cleaning out very often.
The problem with plastic tubes is hamsters pee in them and they need cleaning out - then the hamster pees on everything more to re-scent mark things because they don't like being cleaned out. Their instinct is also to block up entrances to houses - so they block up tubes so they get even more stinky.
Maybe try a diplomatic approach and say - I think we've both been doing it a bit wrong and hamster care has changed - have a look at this. It's an Ikea glass cabinet hack as a hamster cage - tipped on its side - on top of kallax storage units - looks like a display piece in a living room and a great cage for hamster with space for a whole environment. Do you think you could make a couple of lids out of wood and mesh? (ie give him a project!). He probably thought he was being helpful
My OH knows nothing about cleaning other than to splash water everywhere - I just ban him from doing any. It's quite a clever tactic on their part (possibly!) - do it wrong and you won't have to do any more cleaning - ha ha.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ha...w=1047&bih=462