Dropped Scissors in Sump Last Week - Gulp!

[samba_dad]

I had a real bummer today. I was putting some miracle mud in my sumps refugium and I found a pair of scissors sitting in the bottom of my sump underneath my filter socks. I think they were there for almost a week and had started to rust on the screw that holds the blades together. I am still in the middle of my build and do not have any livestock in the tank. However, now I am concerned I have contaminated the water and rock in the DT with some heavy metal. Has anyone ever had something like this happen to them before? How bad is this for my almost finished setup? Now I know what a surgeon must feel like when they leave a sponge or other instrument in a patient. Argh. Thanks in advance for any suggestions on how to recover from this problem.

 

[phillrodrigo]

Should be fine unless you see any brass or copper on them anywhere but I doubt they do

 

[redfishbluefish]

You're fine.

 

[samba_dad]

Great and thanks for the quick reply. I think they are mostly stainless steel and plastic.

 

[pastadurro]

You are fine. Rust is ferric oxide, also known as GFO in the aquarium industry. We use it to bind with and remove phosphates from the water by running our water through reactors filled with granular ferric oxide.