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04/22/2012, 08:43 PM | #1 |
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HELP!! My light fell in my tank.
My light fell into my tank for only a few seconds but long enough to fill with water. It did not electrocute the tank. However, not my light isn't functioning properly. I have a coralife T5 lighting system. It has 4 T5 bulbs and two LED's for night time. One of the bulbs isn't fully coming on and its not blown.
I sat it on its end to drain the water out and have started wiping it out. I don't know how I should go about cleaning it and figuring out what the problem is. |
04/22/2012, 08:48 PM | #2 |
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Let it dry
Just let it dry and it might be ok. Cleaning any salt residue off the connections etc might be a good idea.
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04/22/2012, 09:16 PM | #3 |
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I cleaned and wiped down everywhere I could reach and took most of it apart. So far all of the bulbs work but one. I'm going to let it sit overnight and see how it is tomorrow
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04/22/2012, 09:53 PM | #4 |
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STOP trying to make it work for now, that will only cause it to burn out and fry something. This might sound weird, but put it in rice to soak up any water/moisture left over in it. Its going to take a lot of rice. lol
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04/22/2012, 10:46 PM | #5 |
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Wow. Just... wow.
You don't get a Darwin Award for burning the house down. I mean, you actually have to kill yourself. All kidding aside, people die from electricity all the time. When someone is executed in the electric chair, they don't douse them with fresh water, they use saltwater. Saltwater and electricity is an efficient killer. Be careful and be cautious. (Better safe than sorry.) As for the light, it is saveable if you get the salt out of it. The salt is corrosive and will ruin the electrical contacts in the light. The best thing you can do to save it is give it a freshwater bath as soon as possible followed by an RODI rinse. Then let it air dry (a fan is better). Last edited by Reef Noob; 04/22/2012 at 11:15 PM. |
04/22/2012, 10:53 PM | #6 |
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ek9vboi has a very good point. This may sound funny but I dropped my phone in a lake and when I found it I put it in a bag of rice for a few days and when I took it out it was good as new! I have also put phones in a freezer and then let dry but I don't think that would be a good idea for a light! Anyways I would give it a shot if it doesn't work!
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04/22/2012, 10:55 PM | #7 |
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You really aren't adding anything to this thread. Accidents happen and clearly the OP is nervous about what happened.
OP, like others have said, let it dry; make sure the unit remains unplugged and in the morning give everything another rub, you might not see any salt build up at first but keep an eye out for it and remove/wipe. If you haven't fried anything you'll be good to go. GL
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04/22/2012, 11:01 PM | #8 |
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If you have a dehumidifier in your house, set it by that over night. That would help to pull out water from within!
good luck!
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04/22/2012, 11:25 PM | #9 |
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I agree with all the above. Let it dry and stop turning it on. Many electrical components survive getting wet just fine. The problem is when they are energized the water allows current to travel places it shouldnt and can fry the components.
In the future unplug your light before messing around with the tank. Besides being safer for you it increases the chance of the fixture surviving this kind of mishap. |
04/23/2012, 12:57 AM | #10 |
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I work for a major phone carrier and I agree the rice is the best method for wet electronics. However a 48" t5 would take a 50pound bag or rice at least. As stated clean all salt residue off it will continue to cause corrosion even after it dries. Remember the worst thing you can ever do is try to test it before it has had plenty of time to dry. I tell people everyday they fried their $600 android because they put the battery in and tried to turn on a soaking wet phone.
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04/23/2012, 09:04 AM | #11 |
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Since I assume it fell in saltwater do this first:
Discharge everything by connecting the positive and negative on the power cord when it is NOT PLUGGED IN. Then disassemble everything that got wet as completely as possible. Rinse everything gently with RODI or reverse osmosis water (to remove the salt) then dry everything as much as you can by hand, then dry it as best you can with the methods listed above. Be patient, its really the only way to recover electronics from water damage, ESPECIALLY salt water damage. |
04/24/2012, 07:46 AM | #12 | |
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04/24/2012, 09:07 AM | #13 |
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I would also install a GFCI outlet if you haven't already.
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04/28/2012, 09:26 PM | #14 |
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As of now, one of the actinic light is screwy, all of the electrical component work fine. I let if drain for a few hours, took it completely apart wipred down the electrical components with a damp rag. Left if apart overnight with a fan blowing through it. Checked it the next day for salt crusts (none so far). Put it back together and is currently working fine. And I will keep checking the components for salt build-up, which should be pretty easy because of the two built in fans; they pop out and you can see most of the electrical bits from there. Thanks for all of the support and suggestions : )
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04/29/2012, 12:51 AM | #15 |
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Dont worry about it too much, at least ur reef didn't get fried like mine did... My old great dane decided to jump on my old 150g reef system, while I was at school. Effectively knocking over my 400 watt t5 lighting system into the reef. To make it worse wvery piece of equipment and all life in that setup ceased to work / live. So count ur lucky stars that at least you didn't have to experience a total system fail!
Happy reefing |
04/29/2012, 06:21 AM | #16 |
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Sorry I did not see this post earlier. You may wish to try placing a few incandescent lamps over the fixture, not so close to overheat the components. The heat from the lamps will evaporate any trapped moisture. I would leave on for at least 24 hours. I would imagine the fixture has epoxy encapsulated ballasts. More than likely you have bad/corroded connections in switch(es) and/or lamp/ballast sockets. You could try cleaning them w/electro contact cleaner if accessible.
Last edited by cpostis@att.net; 04/29/2012 at 07:00 AM. Reason: left ballast sockets out |
05/01/2012, 04:28 AM | #17 |
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Air compressor. Blow forced air on it like crazy. In all the tight spots around wires and ballasts.
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05/01/2012, 05:02 AM | #18 |
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Unfortunately, and I'm sure this isn't the news you wish to hear but I would start saving up for a new light. Reason being that salt is extremely corrosive. Even if you do get it completely dried out (overnight probably won't be enough, I'd probably figure a few days at minimum) and working properly in the near term, there is the very high likely hood that further down the line you're going to start encountering problems. Its just nearly impossible to get all the salt out of every nook and cranny.
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05/01/2012, 11:11 AM | #19 |
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05/01/2012, 11:13 AM | #20 | |
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05/01/2012, 11:59 AM | #21 |
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It sounds like your going to be upgrading your lights =/
Even if you dry it out, I wouldn't risk using it. |
05/01/2012, 12:58 PM | #22 | |
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coralife, lighting |
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