Thermometer Broke

[rossim]

I don't think I'm in any trouble here, but I figure I'll ask to be safe. My thermometer was hanging on the front of my tank. Occasionally, water flow from the power head would make it hit the glass lightly. When I came home today, I noticed that the thermometer was half way filled with liquid. I'm guessing that the thermometer didn't have anything in it, and the liquid was water from the tank.
Should I be worried? The tank is only a couple days into its cycle and nothing except LR and LS is in it.
Here is the thermometer.

 

[rossim]

And the crack...

 

[rossim]

With the water in...

 

[wocka]

im not sure but i dont think the red stuff inside can go out the top unless its really hot and the temp forces it out. im not exactly sure just giving my $.02

 

[rossim]

I know that none of the mercery got out. I'm safe in that respect. Just wondering if the part where you read the temp is usually filled with a liquid that could have gotten into the tank.

 

[wocka]

i think u should be safe, get ur water tested

 

[adhoc]

I am 99.9% positive that those thermometers don't use mercury, I'm not sure any thermometers readily available use mercury anymore. But that aside, I dropped the same model thermometer on the floor once, no liquid. Just broken glass.

 

[rossim]

Thanks adhoc. You just confirmed what I suspected.

 

[sly]

IMO you should be fine. Ageed, that's not mercury. It's actually a type of alcohol that's in those thermometers. The only real concern is the metal plate that is in the thermometer. It could be some sort of alloy that has copper in it.