Now what?

[hawaiiguy]

Hey everyone I need help! I have a 6 gallon modified JBJ nano tank (with 3x18 watt PCs) and one of the bulbs burned out. I went to Skiptons and picked up a Coralife bulb to replace the dead one but it was slightly bulkier than the original. When I replaced the plastic cover, the gasket didn't fully seal around the lights because the new bulb contacted the cover. Condensation got into the lights today and I fried a circuit... now only 1 of the 3 bulbs work

Anyone know how to fix this kind of thing? What do I do? All my corals are pretty versatile so they should be fine for a week or so on one light...

 

[Leroy]

Not completely able to diagnose the problem unless it's actually looked at by someone that has gone though many repairs technically with electrical issues with hoods. Two things you can do, 1, is either open the cover and see where you fried a circuit or wiring or 2, replace the hood if you can find a replacement or equivalent. If one lights is still working then there's a good chance it still has some life left to it and with luck it could be something minor.....you hope.

 

[Ruge13]

My guess you did one of two things, moisture caused corosion on the contacts for the light bulbs or you got moisture on the moon light board. Does it have moon lights like the 12g? If so, take out the reflector. You wil see corosion on the small circuit board that connects the light balast to the on/off switch for the moon light led's. Its behind the reflector. You can temporarilysnip the wires between the switch and the balast and reconnect to cut the board out of the loop. Just plug or unplug to turn the lights on and off.

 

[hawaiiguy]

So after spending hours taking apart the hood, cleaning the contacts, changing bulbs, etc... I finally found out what the problem was. Apparantly my 2yr old daughter went into the tank stand and flipped one of the ballast switches off I feel soooo dumb! Of course she had to flip the switch the morning after I put a new bulb in just to make me believe that it had something to do with the bulb I think she enjoys tormenting me...

 

[jbishop]

Glad you figured it out.