Serious Close Call....

[stuuk1]

Peering in to the tank this evening, as you do... and happen to look up at my thermometer (one of these)

http/www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http/www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/FishTankThermometerWithSuckerSmallImage.jpg&imgrefurl=http/www.pet-bliss.com/acatalog/Aquarium.html&usg=__hcQxvPr3Z4-YQ9A1T7xGapTkKMg=&h=200&w=200&sz=3&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=lVHKvEkrfylo7M:&tbnh=125&tbnw=117&ei=OCGaTZryFuGQ4gb8ptWUDA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfish%2Btank%2Bthermometer%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D675%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=364&oei=OCGaTZryFuGQ4gb8ptWUDA&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0&tx=85&ty=36

(I could have done a nice link but im playing COD...)

and I notice that the magnesium balls had collapsed and sunk to the bottom of the thermometer... Thats odd, it doesnt look right!

A little closer inspection and there is water inside it!

Quickly got it out and put it in a tea towel, gave it a little bit of pressure and the thing shattered!

Luckily I caught it early enough otherwise it could have shattered in the tank at any moment!

Did a water change yesterday, not going to change any out now, there is nothing obvious wrong in the tank at the moment and with a bit of luck, nothing will happen, just a warning to all those with these type thermometers, absolutely useless!!

 

[StandbySetting]

Has this happened to a thermometer of this type to you before? If not I don't think it's fair to call them useless. You could have just had a faulty individual. For any of you that may experience a thermometer smash in the tank, if the metal in the base is magnesium, no harm would be done as magnesium is unreactive in water as a liquid, you'd just have the tedious job of picking it out of the tank

 

[Skins]

May be you just had a dodgy one, i had one fail on me once but on the whole find them to be very reliable.

Keith.

 

[stuuk1]

The glass is very thin.... And if any turbulance in the water, which lets face it, there is lots! That glass, any taps on to the glass window of the tank over an amount of time will cause a crack.

Anyhoo, ive ordered an external digital one now with a lead

 

[Proxo]

The glass is very thin.... And if any turbulance in the water, which lets face it, there is lots! That glass, any taps on to the glass window of the tank over an amount of time will cause a crack.

Anyhoo, ive ordered an external digital one now with a lead

There's internal digital ones too (Click Here)

I've got one, they're pretty good imo.

 

[mattbleasby]

Im going to have to invest in a digital one, Im currently using the sticker ones. but the digi ones seem so much more reliable never mind accurate and they look cool

 

[StandbySetting]

Digital thermometers are as accurate as their calibration, which isn't very accurate in some cases. Alcohol thermometers are the most reliable from a fish keeping point of view in my opinion, if you want a good quality glass one the ADA thermometers are quite neat and discreet, but they are pricey.