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I helped my brother out of his garage the other day with a fish tank. He has had it inside of the shed for 3 years with gravel and plastic plants and bits and pieces inside of it. we took it outside and started to get the gravel out.

I cut my hand on a glass tube while I was scooping out gravel with my hand.

"oh (expletive)" my brother said. "Thats a thermometer I had in there."

Now. the gravel is dry and has been in this shed for 3 years. I am wondering if the amount of mercury in the thermometer would pollute the water that will refill the tank?

I'll be rinsing the gravel quite thoroughly. Will any mercury captured in the gravel simply rise to the water surface so I can scoop it out?

Has anyone had a busted thermometer in their tanks in the past?

Was it an aquarium thermometer? If so they haven't been made out of mercury in years. I believe they all use an alcohol based solution for obvious safety reasons...

I think so too. It should be fine.

you would have seen if there was mercury in there wouldn't you? I don't know the specifics, but it sounds like you would notice it.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

yeah, thats what puzzled me when I filled the gravel filled bucket. I'll go pour melafix on my hand now...

The chances are it was filled with an alcohol not mercury. Just wash the gravel out as you would have when setting a tank up and it shall be fine.

-- Gomer

if it was filled w/ mercury, the rocks would be floating on top of the mercury