light falls into tank. -.-

Ugh. I am so mad. I was working on my tank after doing a water change. I was about done when I lifted the fixture(it is a 1 bulb standard compact florescent T8 that came with the tank kit, it sits on the tank hood, on my 29g FOWLR) so I could move some rock..then suddenly...SPLASH!

There goes my light right into the water. :-[The whole right-hand side(about 1/3) of it goes into the water. The light immediately shorted.

So what do I do? I think I've got it all dry now. I disassembled the fixture and dried it of the saltwater & cleaned off the creep that has already accumulated on/in it.

 

thats bad.. Thank goodness you didnt get zapped..

 

You likely buy a new fixture, if any electronic components were damaged (ballast is most likely).

 

Glad you didn't get electrocuted Seano! Thats why I always take the fixture completely off the tank and set it out of the way when I'm doing major work in the tank.
Chance are the fixture is shot. Sorry about your accident.

 

Thanks everyone. Glad I'm okay too. I wouldn't be safe to reassemble it, re-install the bulb & plug it back in, would it? I want to see if there's any chance it still works. :/

 

I had the light on top, rather than aside the tank so I could see in the tank. I had already done the WC & was looking in the tank, trying to take some of my CUC & put in my newly set up quarantine tank.

 

If it is broken, most likely it is, I could go to Radio Shak or my LHS and get a new ballast. How much would this cost?

 

You need to open it up and clean out the entire fixture of all salt (every last tiny bit), otherwise you could still have a short, which would likely result in a fire.

 

I'll get right on that.

 

Sorry to hear! Btw...

I wouldnt try to fix it in my opinion. Anything that is electronic and falls into the water and is tried to be reused is normally a disaster in the making... But thats just my two cents!