How dangerous are the thermometers?

[Cobrasvt1999]

I had my generic floating aquarium thermometer from petsmart get sucked into my mixing pump in my salt mixing tank and shredded. Are they just alcohol? How worried should I be?

I am already rinsing and flushing the system, just trying to figure if I need to do more.

 

[Sk8r]

Alcohol. Dilution is the solution for pollution. So is carbon. Water change and carbon are step 1 when you;re worried. If a very small thermometer no worry.

 

[cody6766]

I'm not sure how worried you should be, but I'd guess it's less than you are now. The 'mercury' in the tube is dyed alcohol, and it's a very small amount.

If it's in your mixing tank, purge the tank and start over. There's no sense in risking things if you can keep it out of the tank. If you got some in your DT, I'd do a proactive large water change, realizing that some people dose vodka (or at least used to) in their tanks.

Basically, I see the red dye as your biggest risk, and I bet it's not one at all. It's just an unknown.