Actually it had a plastic end on it, not a copper/brass one.....so will that be ok?

 Am speaking from experience mate as did same thing trying to get rid of excess fuel 12 mths ago . It was one of those clear hoses with glass marble in red plastic jiggle end ... both the glass marble and the plastic head were in tank...  It was in there for about 12mths but I wanted to empty tank of old fuel that was off so emptied it manually ( disconnected the fuel line to motor , fed it back thru the exit point and then put hose thru bung hole and let gravity fill up the jerrys ...about 7 of them) ripped up the floor ( sealed deck / 240lt tank trailcraft ) took tank out , fished out the jiggle head / marble thru feul sender hole ,  found a leak , got it welded / tank washed out and pressure tested, replaced sender and all fuel hoses etc that were under deck while I was at it ....

Not a hard job but also not a pleasant experience and time consuming/not cheap if you want someone to do it . My only concerns about it being in there was either the marble or jiggle head blocking fuel outlet hose to motor and or stuffing up fuel sender.