Found razor blade in tank…?

rja · Dec 8, 2023

Hey all,
So I use razor blades a lot in my tank to cut frags, clean glass, etc. I literally keep a box of them on standby.

Anywho,
I was inspecting my tank as I do every morning and noticed something sitting in the back in the sand. I do not know how the heck it got there but it was a razor blade. I pulled it out and it does not appear to have any rust on it. No idea how long it has been in there.

I am worried now about metal content in the water. No rust suggests potentially stainless steel but I have no idea the materials of the blade. Should I do an ICP test, water change, or am I working myself up? Everyone seems okay.

gbroadbridge · Dec 8, 2023

rja said:
Hey all,
So I use razor blades a lot in my tank to cut frags, clean glass, etc. I literally keep a box of them on standby.

Anywho,
I was inspecting my tank as I do every morning and noticed something sitting in the back in the sand. I do not know how the heck it got there but it was a razor blade. I pulled it out and it does not appear to have any rust on it. No idea how long it has been in there.

I am worried now about metal content in the water. No rust suggests potentially stainless steel but I have no idea the materials of the blade. Should I do an ICP test, water change, or am I working myself up? Everyone seems okay.

If you still have all your fingers I doubt you have anything to worry about.

mtraylor · Dec 8, 2023

You are working yourself up. I have had this happen in past. If it's not rusted then there is nothing to worry about.

I did have a magnet deteriate in my fuge that rusted out that caused all kinds of issues before. The deterioration and rust killed all my sps and would not allow me to grow most corals. Took a total sump break down and clean to find the problem.....so your worrying is a normal but not warrented in this case.

Just fyi. You can buy ceramic razor blades on Amazon that will do the same job and you never have to worry about this issue anymore.

Paul B · Dec 8, 2023

Don't worry about it. I find razor blades, nuts and bolts all the time. I even have a small glass of rusty nails and I "dose" that in my tank whenever I think about it. Iron is good and can't hardly be easily overdosed. Your blade is probably stainless and there would only be a minute amount of metals in there besides iron, nothing of consequence.

This may be over the top so don't do this unless you have my tank.

Subsea · Dec 8, 2023

Paul B said:
Don't worry about it. I find razor blades, nuts and bolts all the time. I even have a small glass of rusty nails and I "dose" that in my tank whenever I think about it. Iron is good and can't hardly be easily overdosed. Your blade is probably stainless and there would only be a minute amount of metals in there besides iron, nothing of consequence.

This may be over the top so don't do this unless you have my tank.

Paul,
I always find nails & hammers in 25 year young tank.