David593

I have a 55 gallon tank with two hoods (one fore each side) Anyways, The lighting is flouresent and its purpleish for i think its ultra violet. Anyways, again, when on, the lights give off a funky smell. When I turn them on the smell slowly goes away but once its back in, it smells weird again. It faily strong when you open the hood, but other than that its not too noticable from the room

Any ideas on what it could be?
Can this be a hazardous problem?

David593

Spelled funky wrong in the title

Butterfly

all better now
Is the light tightly enclosed? Could it be getting hot?
carol

Martinismommy

Are you using prime water conditioner? Have you ever smelled it? It has a very foul smell.....

Drew 43920

Why would the light be ultraviolet ? Seems odd. Are you sure bulb or ballast are not burning out ?

David593

Its just like most strip lights. And its not due to ever heating because it smells right when its on and sometimes when its off. It not a big deal as it not noticable unless you open the hood. I just want to make sure that ts not potentially harmful for my fishies.

David593

ok its probably not ultra-violet. Im not familiar with lights so no clue there. I only said that because the light gives off a purpleish color, rather than my 10 gal light that gives off a whilte color.

David593

and im not using prime

Drew 43920

This is a guess. The bulb is burning out. But that might not be the reason for the smell. I have never heard of a purple aquarium bulb.

David593

ok, now I'm kinda nervous about the bulb...

1. How can i tell if it is burning out
2. Come to think of it, the smell kind of resembles mildew.

Amanda

My 10 gal. light has a purplish tint. It's a regular flouresccent bulb, not a bulb specified for an aquarium.
Just to be safe, I replaced my 55 gal. tank lights when I bought it (got it off craigslist).

David593

Ok. that makes sense...Maybe I should just replace the bulb and wile I'm at it...is there a safe way to clean the holder and possibly remove the smell? can i used soap and such since the light dont go in the water.

Amanda

You could use a bleach solution & maybe an old toothbrush or something to scrub out the holder

David593

ok. cool! ya, i think maybe it might have fallen in sometime and got wet. The only thing that I find weird is that both of them smell the same. So I guess they both got wet?

Amanda

Maybe it was kept in a basement or garage?
Just make sure the light it removed & unplugged.
We don't want any aquarium related deaths.

David593

No we do not... YIKES

Amanda

lol

navyscuba

I cleaned my light fixtures with CLR to get all the residue that forms in the light.