Help!!! My Lights Have Died!!!

My CFs didn't turn on today. Went to LFS and bought replacements -- they didn't work either. Everything is closed now. The tank's been without light since midnight last night.

Is this a disaster in the making? The soonest I can find something to replace the tank hood (for a Nano) is tomorrow morning.

Any sugggestions as to what I could/should do in the meantime?????

One million thank yous for any advice you can send my way!

 

Calm down first Linda , a full day or 2 will not kill off every thing.
1, since you've changed bulbs , check the breaker box make sure you just havint thrown the breaker.
2, make sure your timer that go's infront of the power cord isint bad
( try taking and disconnect the timer and plug lights up directly into wall socket )
3, If none of the above seems to make them come on > the internal small ballest is most likely gone bad.

 

The lights and the fan are connected to what I assume is an intermediary power source -- with 2 separate connectors. Since the fans were still operational, I swapped-out the connections. The fans continued to run, but no lights. And, before that, I did remove the timer and plugged the unit directly into the outlet.

I'm glad to know that everything won't be dead in the morning. Is there something more I can do/check?

 

sounds like a balast to me.

 

Is that something that a handyman-type can fix?

 

Well linda if the fans are working' and still no lights, do one more thing
check to make SURE that you installed the bulb/s correctly, making sure you have the ends in their contacts .

After that and still no lights, you must purchase a new light system , or see if they have replacement parts ( dont throw it away even if your forced to buy new system ok )

 

Relax, think of it as a big storm blowing through.. Your tank should be fine for a couple days like wildreef said...

 

if you can find balast, it could be replaced.

 

I'll double check the new lights again, just to be sure. Thanks for the help karma to all! ;D

 

I also think its the ballast. Do the ballast smell funny? Like burned