Broken VHO Bulb - part in sump!

[Bill S]

OK, I'm an idiot. I was changing bulbs, and set on against the wall. Long story short, it fell, broke, and the end piece and a bit of glass ended up IN my sump. No, it was the old bulb.

Anything I should do/not do about possible contamination in the tank?

Thanks in advance

[Instar]

Do you think much of the phosphor powders got in there? I would remove all pieces of the broken end quickly and suck out every little bit of dust from the area, although its probably too late now to get any traces of mercury out. For safety you could run a good grade of carbon. The substrate chemical, algal and bacterial action is pretty amazing at precipitating substances that don't belong in there and encrusting them as carbonates so they are not a problem.

[Bill S]

Thanks, Larry, I did exactly that. And then put a couple of pounds of carbon in. Hopefully, all will be well...

[Bill S]

So far so good - no problems.