Dropped screw in tank

[purge43]

As I was mounting some above the tank hardware, I accidently dropped a 1 inch drywall screw in my reef tank. I generally know which half of the tank it landed in. But its a long 125 gal with about 225 lbs of rock and a hard few grand worth of coral livestock and tearing down the suspect half of the tank would be astronomical. Im familiar with the reef chemistry as a whole. but this foreign object introduction presents a problem of weither to do the unthinkable and go in and get it or let it desolve. Can anyone share any of their knowledge with me regarding this? Thanks in advance.

 

[mdntrdr]

Wow that sux.

I believe I would just keep an eye on everything and hope for the best.

Good luck!

 

[montipora80]

Perhaps you can try placing a mag on the end of a chop stick and poke around to see if it will grab hold.

 

[mdntrdr]

Thats a great idea.

They do make telescoping and flexible mags you can pick up at auto parts stores.

they would probably be some sort of metal but for as long as your going to need it in tank I would think worth a try

 

[montipora80]

Ya I mean you wont be in there to long so I think that would be just fine, it's worth a shot.

 

[EnderG60]

As long as its not copper dont worry about it. When taking down my 58g I found screws I dropped in there at least 5 years ago.

All that will happen is it will rust and you will have a little extra phosphate remover.