thermometer breakage

glinton

Member
Well, I am soooooo glad to be back in the hobby again. I have been out for about 2 years but I am going to start up my reef tank again.
While my tank was in storage, the thermometer broke on the bottom of the empty tank. The thermometer was fairly new and had red "stuff" inside of it along with silver balls. I know that mercury is toxic, but new thermometers are not made of mercury are they? Could anyone let me know if I have contaminated my tank?
Thanks!
 

sammiefish

Member
The red stuff is alcohol... and the silver balls are probably steel or lead shot to weigh the thermometer bottom end down (I assume it was a floating thermometer).
wipe up what you can, rinse the tank out with water (I assume you would do this anyway to get rid of the dust) and IMO you are good to go without any worries!!
have fun and good luck... keep us posted
 
Top