halide bulb exploded last night. What shall I do?

[twinspots_goby]

One of my halide bulbs exploded right in front of me. I was freaked. I unplugged it immediately. Some of the broken bulb pieces went into my tank overflow including both outside glass and the inside glass which might contains mercury I believe. I tried to get it out of my overflow, but couldn't.

Do I have to get them out of my tank? Are they harmful at all?

 

[Captain Nemo]

I dont know if they are harmful per say, but if it were my tank, I would get them out to be on the safe side. Better to err on the side of caution, than not to.....

 

[EliteReefs]

i wont say it was the right way but i had this happen TWICe, both time i have peices i could not get without tearing apart the reef so i left them. never had any negative reaction that i noticed. again im not sayign thats the right way, im just saying that right or wrong it did not cxause a problem in my situation.

if it matters they were both 400 watt radiums. and both my fault by splashing water on the hot bulb

 

[twinspots_goby]

what part of the pieces got into your tank? If they are just the glass from the light bulbs themselves, they are just glass and should be fine. My concern is that the pieces got into my tank are the pices inside the bulb which might contain mercury. I wonder if such heavy metal would poison my tank and kill my corals and fish.

i wont say it was the right way but i had this happen TWICe, both time i have peices i could not get without tearing apart the reef so i left them. never had any negative reaction that i noticed. again im not sayign thats the right way, im just saying that right or wrong it did not cxause a problem in my situation.

if it matters they were both 400 watt radiums. and both my fault by splashing water on the hot bulb

 

[Raggamuffin]

if you can see them use a siphon hose to suck them up. and what size bulb was it? maybe I have a spare sitting around if you need a bulb in a hurry.

 

[twinspots_goby]

Thanks for your kindness. I do have a spare bulb laying around. I can't easily get it out because I can't see where it is in my overflow. my tank is 30"H, and the overflow is all the way to the bottom behind my tank. My main concern is to find out if the inside piece in the halide bulb will damage my coral or fish. If it is, then I will make more efforts to get it out.

if you can see them use a siphon hose to suck them up. and what size bulb was it? maybe I have a spare sitting around if you need a bulb in a hurry.

 

[Captain Nemo]

What type pf bulb was it a DE or a mogul? and was any of it left in the fixture?

 

[twinspots_goby]

It's single ended EVC 250W. There is one piece of glass that fell into my overflow, and that piece is not the bulb glass, but the piece inside of the halide bulb. I believe that piece contains mercury and like to know if it will causing any damage to my tank.

 

[Raggamuffin]

I really think you are ok, the amount of mercury in the bulbs is TINY and after a bit of burn time it is turned into gas. if your bulb was hot enough to explode then the film left on the glass would be so small I wouldn't worry at all. Keep up the water changes and if you are still worried run some carbon and don't forget the glass is in there when you upgrade tanks and reach down to take out the overflow