Rust - Broken Thermometer

[dazbud]

Hi all

I had one of those glass thermometers on the side of my tank. I must have knocked it when cleaning and the little black balls at the weighted end dropped out into my substrate. I didn't notice for a few days until I noticed rust coloured dots on the glass where they had fallen. Given that my substrate is also black and of similar size, I couldn't see where they had actually settled, but vaccumed what I thought was the last of them out. 2 weeks later, I noticed some more rusty spots on the glass in the same place, so I took a scoop of the substrate out from the area to dispose of it. A bit of a reddish cloud rose up a few inches in the water when I did so. I am sure I must have got them all now and I have done 2 x 30% water changes since then. However, I am a bit concerned about whether it will be dangerous to the fish if there are any bits that have worked their way down into the sand. I'm assuming the black balls in the thermometer were iron. I have read mixed articles about wherher iron oxide is good or bad for plants/fish.

The tank is 100L btw, so volume wise the missing ball bearings occupy a relatively small part of the tank. Combined, assuming I hadn't got any out, they would probably have less volume than a single rust nail.

any comments / experience?

 

[techen]

Hi all

I had one of those glass thermometers on the side of my tank. I must have knocked it when cleaning and the little black balls at the weighted end dropped out into my substrate. I didn't notice for a few days until I noticed rust coloured dots on the glass where they had fallen. Given that my substrate is also black and of similar size, I couldn't see where they had actually settled, but vaccumed what I thought was the last of them out. 2 weeks later, I noticed some more rusty spots on the glass in the same place, so I took a scoop of the substrate out from the area to dispose of it. A bit of a reddish cloud rose up a few inches in the water when I did so. I am sure I must have got them all now and I have done 2 x 30% water changes since then. However, I am a bit concerned about whether it will be dangerous to the fish if there are any bits that have worked their way down into the sand. I'm assuming the black balls in the thermometer were iron. I have read mixed articles about wherher iron oxide is good or bad for plants/fish.

The tank is 100L btw, so volume wise the missing ball bearings occupy a relatively small part of the tank. Combined, assuming I hadn't got any out, they would probably have less volume than a single rust nail.

any comments / experience?

I very much doubt you have any issues with it, I've seen many people do the same thing and had nothing as a result. There made for fishtanks so in the end you don't expect them to put anything deadly inside of them. So yea, At least as far as I can see, if you're water levels are A-OK you're good.