Yikes! Broke a thermometer in the tank!

[Kristy]

So it has been a little more eventful this morning than I would have liked. I was wiping the glass in our 20g hex with the mag-float and somehow managed to pin the floating thermometer / hydrometer in the process and slam it against the wall of the tank, breaking the glass tip.

Within thirty seconds I turned off the pumps so the little beads of mercury (or whatever is in there!) would not scatter more around the tank.

Within five minutes I suctioned off the sand any little beads I could find, along with five gallons of water. I made up 5 gallons of salt water, but we did not have enough RO/DI made to do a bigger water change and I was panicking, so I ran out and bought some more RO/DI water.

Within an hour or so I did a 15 gallon water change (on a 20 gallon tank).

Running carbon....

What else can I do / should I do? Of course Mike wasn't home to consult on this and it was really hard to think straight in the panic of the moment. I really do not even know how big a deal it is and did not take the time to find out, just assumed the worst.

All livestock is looking and acting pretty normal. Some of the corals are still looking ticked off, but they were all out of the water because I took it down so low. Tank is still a bit cloudy, but that would be the case anyhow right after this big of a water change.

Is this a big deal? Do I need to do anything more (other than keeping an eye on everybody)?

Thanks for any tips or any experience with this.

[ErikH]

sounds like you did the right thing. just keep a close watch and have more water ready.
Best wishers,
Erik!

[Kristy]

Okay, doing a bit of reading here... looks like the little black balls I vacuumed off the sand were lead, weighting the thermometer down so that it floats properly. Just in case that makes a difference on what I should do next...

I am making more RO/DI since this happened and could probably do another 10 gallons in the next couple of hours if I have to.

[kkiel02]

Is the mercury still in the thermometer? I think you did the right thing though.

[Kristy]

From what I read, people are saying that maybe they don't really use mercury in thermometers anymore? I have no clue what is in there... but the red part of the thermometer remained intact.

Anyway, it seemed like the only thing that got into the tank was the little black balls of lead. And a couple of glass slivers. I doubt that I got 100% of the tiny little lead balls, but I bet I got 98 - 99% of them. Not even sure I got all the glass... but all that I could find.

[Squiers007]

Mercury is not really used in thermometers anymore. If the liquid inside the thermometer was a red color then it was an alcohol one and you dont need to worry too much about it. If the liquid was a silver color then it was mercury. From what it sounds like you only broke the bottom part of it holding the weights? Is this correct? If so, then I think you did the right thing and should be fine so long as you are running carbon.

[Bill S]

As noted above, you've released a little alcohol in the tank if you broke the red part. Otherwise, the rest is lead, which will slowly oxidize. In that volume, it's fine.