David593

omg this is turning into a nightmare. Everything is going wrong. Before all this there was a horiible smell in the tank and it was super cloudy, so we bought new gravel. now its clear but the smell if coming back. I think its the hood. By the time I get this fixed up it will be lots of money wasted. OH gosh....

Butterfly

Before you changed gravel were there dark spots anywhere on it? Occasional bubbles coming up out of the gravel?
Carol

capekate

This is very odd... I thought after I read the first post that others may have this problem too. Reason being is that my 55g tank which has two hoods and lights also seem to smell. I always notice it when I turn off the hood light during the day when its water change time. I turn off the lights remove the hood and get a whiff of something that I just cant describe. I always thought maybe the light was too hot? But it is the standard light that came with the hood. So I was wondering since the light is hot, that possibly it is attracting odor from the tank.(why it would do this, I have no idea) But when I take a whiff of the water, there is no odor at all. Just coming from the hood light.
So.. I also have no idea what it is, and just attribute it to the hood and light and Im not going to worry about it. The hood light is about two years old when I bought it new.
very odd....

Wyphy

One way to tell if a lamp is old and needs replaced is to look at the glass near the end of the tube.
If the glass is darkening at either, or both ends, it's definitely past its prime and should be replaced.

Perhaps the smell could also be from a cheap/failing starter? Does the lamp flicker when it turns on?
Many (most?) inexpensive light fixtures have a wall-wart ballast and a starter tucked behind the 'reflector' behind the lamp.
See 'How Fluorescent Lamps Work (Pg. 4)' for how this works.
Don't really know why this would cause that, but it's a thought.
If you want to try replacing the starter, you can find them at your LFS for $2-$4 for a two pack, or at a hardware store for slightly cheaper. You need the same rating as what you have, so hopefully you've replaced the lamp with the same size/watt rating as the original; the new starters have numbers that tell their type, FS2 (14/15/20W) or FS4 (13/30/40W) are most common for our fixtures.
You can see one of these on that site link, but the ones in our fixtures (usually) don't have the 'can' part, so you have to take it off (easy) and connect it the same way as the old one.
Be sure to tape all the leads so that there can be no shorts. Oh, and I certainly hope you know that you should have the lamp unplugged before taking it apart; I recommend unplugging when the lamp is on to aid in discharging any stored current in the ballast.

David593

THATS EXACTLY right! It smell very weird and kind of bad (IMO). But it is not in the water. It is only like on the light. I have the hood on the tank and I took the light holder + bulb off. The aquarium smells fine so its just the light.

what you described is exactly what I am experiencing. It quite unpleasent


i wish i knew what is was

snesking

does the bulb smell musky thats how my bulb smells?

agabr123

my best guess would be that water is evaporating and then getting trapped in the hood somehow...

also, the purple-ish light could be normal, i bought a brand new hood/light for my 20 and it had a purple tint to it that i absolutely hated, but i replaced the bulb as soon as i had the money for it

David593

Well i replace the lights about 3 weeks ago and havn't had the problem since. So it must have been the bulb.