Aquarium heater blew up! Help

[kurs]

So I just woke up to an explosion in my living room and saw a light show as I ran down the stairs. Apparently my old glass heater blew up for no reason. Acura 1000, 300 watt. Now I have oily black substance on the waters surface. I tried to skim most of it off the top. The water smells like burnt electrical. Now what? Do I need to drain the whole tank and throughly scrub it? Luckly no livestock was present as I just moved.


IPhone post

[RussM]

Pick out any pieces remaining.
Stop all circulation, and let that oily film settle on the surface for 10-15 minutes.
Lay paper towels on the surface for a second to soak up the film, then discard. Get as much out as you can.
Do a generous water change. Or do a 100% water change with Scripps.
Run plenty of carbon for a week.
Do another water change in a couple of days.

[Techknowledgy]

Great advice Russ!

[jrod11]

Pick out any pieces remaining.
Stop all circulation, and let that oily film settle on the surface for 10-15 minutes.
Lay paper towels on the surface for a second to soak up the film, then discard. Get as much out as you can.
Do a generous water change. Or do a 100% water change with Scripps.
Run plenty of carbon for a week.
Do another water change in a couple of days.

Nicely done!

[RussM]

Nicely done!

Thanks, Roland & Jarod... been there, done that :( It turned out well enough... no apparent adverse long term effects.

[kurs]

These are actually the steps I took at 440am. Dabbed up surface mercury with cotton balls, drained 100% water, wiped down the tank then refilled it. I still need to pick up carbon and poly filters. Any specific type that works better than others? Where can I get these? Any carbon should work? Thanks. What a relief! Phew