Broken t-5 in tank

[bigblue141]

:shock::shock:

So I get a phone call from my wife stating one of my T5's broke when she closed the canapy this morning.

I ran (drove) home, spent a couple hours removing all the glass particles I could see, put in a fresh carbon bag on the over flow, did a 40 gallon w/c, removed all my LR and saltwater bathed them in a big bin, put my tank back together and am wondering...

Is there anything I should have or still need to do??? I'm planning another 40 gallon water change on Thursday after this new batch of water is mixed up, and will probably do another one on Sunday.

System info:

120L (60x18x25)
30+ gallon sump/fuge
150+ pounds of LR

Tank was set up middle of Feb using it's existing water and LR. I added the rest of LR from my year old 65 gallon and put the sand out of the 65 in the fuge. I put in 100 lb of Carib Sea live sand when I put water in the tank.

Last week my readings were:

Amonia = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 15
Calcium = 410
Alk = 11

I do not have a Mag test kit. I have and used API test kits. The fish appear to be acting normal and my frags don't look any different than before the bulb broke and scattered throughout the tank.

The bulb was a 6700k Current 4ft T5 HO (Came with the tank.) I'm also open to suggestions as to what brand bulb to replace it with. I was thinking of UVL 10 or 14k.

Thanks,

Ryan

 

[TJL]

Hey Ryan,

Dude that is smart "Getting all the bad things out of the way before you get it stuffed with fish & corals" JK. Did you vacuum the sand bed during your WC to get glass slivers out because that is probably worse than what came out of the bulb long term. I had a couple flo tubes break in my Discus breeding tank and sit there all day until I got home from work and the fish didn't seem any worse for wear. I don't know what affect it will have on corals though, but if you watch inverts closely for any signs of toxic metal oxides ? Let me know if I can help at all including holding livestock for you while things settle out if needed.

Todd

 

[TJL]

Oh Ryan, and as far bulb replacement I just replaced my 10K dawn/dusk with a 20K and it looks way better!

Todd

 

[bigblue141]

Yes I vac'd the entire sand bed with no rock in the tank. Just glad I had the water pre-made for my scheduled w/c on friday. It has only mixed for a week and I try to mix for 2 weeks. I might need to get another mixing barrel =)

I figured if the fish cared they would have been floating. More worried about the frags more than anything else... I guess time will tell. It was only in there about 45 minutes before I got home, the wife turned off the return pump, so the sump stayed "sterile" from it. Just hoping the carbon takes care of it.

 

[ac7av]

Sorry to here about that dude.
I would probably have a stroke if something like that happened to my tank. The glass would probably not hurt anything but the only concern I mite have is the mercury that was in the light. How do you get heavy metal out of the tank? Maybe run a magnet around in the sand for a while to try and remove it. There is not much in the light but it mite leach into the water for a long time if any got into the tank. I don’t know if it could even hurt anything in the tank unless it was hat high levels but who really knows.

 

[tat2z_21]

I would not worry about the mercury as much as the phosphorous coating that the tubes have. The phosphourous mineral is mainly made up of rare earth metals and is what coats the inside. I tried to look up what compunds are used but could not find anything. Typically the ballast for your t5's vaporizes any mercury that is within the tube and would be released to the surface and air. I would not worry to much about the mercury. I would do exactly what you did and water change after water change. Good luck. Let me know if you need anything I have an extra bucket of salt over here if you need.

 

[reef18ster]

Oh man! Sorry to hear that bro. I'm with everyone else with the water changes. That stuff in those tubes are nasty, but hopefully your fans blew out most of it when it broke. Just keep an eye on everything. Your corals should show the first signs of poisoning if they stay closed up.

 

[fishwishmarge]

That sounds like a nightmare, sounds like you did a great job thinking on your feet thought. The stuff in and around the bulbs can be some nasty stuff, but I would think that if it was going to start affecting your corals, you would real soon. Just keep an eye out and keep doing everything you are doing, you should be fine. I had to get a replacement bulb recently, it was horrible decided what to go with. Good luck and hope all is well again soon.

 

[bigblue141]

Thanks for the inputs everyone.

I'm thinking there was nothing toxic that made it into the water as everything seems to be doing very well.

The re-aquascaping seemed to do well as my spraybar is working as I hoped. There is several "treadmill areas" for the tangs to swim their little hearts out in place

Going to trade my Korlia's off for some hi powered power heads tonight for some additional cross tank flow. I ended up just getting a Coralife 10K T5 HO and am really happy with the color of it. I like it much better than the "Current 10K HO"

I would like to find a Actinic T5 bulb that is a nice deep dark blue though. The Current is a little bright blue for my liking. Any thoughts on a brand here?

 

[CT12]

Any update on this situation? I just had the same thing happen to me in a tank that I was just starting to cycle. Just wondering if you have seen any ill effects longer term.

 

[frag_addict]

hey any updates?

 

[bigblue141]

Everything and everybody is fine. I have not noticed any longterm side effects from it.