In need of some help/advice

[wolrey]

I'm at home, playing in the TCMAS arcade, and all of a sudden I hear a huge crash. I run into the kitchen and see the cat pulling herself out of my 20 gal nano. I also see my powercompact hood in the tank. The GFCI tripped and no one seems to have been electocuted. But I'm guessing the light is done for. I had planned on upping to T5HO with individual reflectors, but won't be able to purchase and install them until the beginning of May.

In the tank I currently have zoo's, a frag of frogspawn, and a RBTA.... plus a few fish but I'm not worried about them.

I think I can rig up some homedepot 6500k daylight compactF in the mean time but....I'm sure these don't put out any actinic light. Will I be ok for around a month without the bluer and actinic spectrums? If not, any idea on what to do in the meantime?

Appreciate any help,

Jeff

[David Grigor]

Corals could have gotten shocked and you may not see the aftermath for a few days...... so just keep a close eye on things for the next week. The things you describe are pretty hardy so hopefully things will work out.

If it uses electonic ballasts, just be sure to let everything fully dry out before trying to restart. If the bulbs didn't break, you may be able to replace the ballast relatively cheaply.

I don't know what wattage but I do have some 28W pc ballasts around.

Without actinics you will likely be fine. Corals may not look really colorful but should be okay. Going with the HD 65K the lower part of the spectrum can atrract some algae so depending on the water quality you may get some cyano or other issues crop up.

[Irenicus]

Wow that sucks Jeff. I've had my share of pet vs. tank incidents as well. Keep an eye on them like Dave said. All the best!

[mtfatwork]

If you have a ballast, I have a pc bulb you can borrow if you dont want to use a 65k. I think it is a 55 or 65 watter.

[mtfatwork]

actually, if you need, and are trustworthy, I have an extra IC430 right now and some 3 foot bulbs. PM me if you are interested, but it would have to be well cared for as they are all less than 3 months old, and of course, it would be just to borrow, not to keep :)

[wolrey]

Thanks to all those that replied offering spare equipment. I just can't borrow anything not knowing if the cat will decide to "hunt" the fish again or not. I would feel terrible ruining more stuff by not fixing the problem correctly. I had planned on making a diy canopy and putting a retro T5 system in it...this will just make me get it done sooner then later. I already planned on bracing the canopy so it couldn't slide off, now I'll just make sure the braces are a little deeper. I have some homedepot compactf bulbs that hopefully will hold me until I get the hood and bulbs built.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Frogbone]

Shoot the cat ! :2gunsfiring:

[Soltaker]

Shoot the cat ! :2gunsfiring:

my thoughts exactly! :bow:

[droinablunt]

:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: Shoot the cat ! :2gunsfiring:

[wolrey]

That might be the safest route for my new babies....but the wife would probably shoot me in return, payback style, and then who takes care of them! :smile:

[YiNYaNg]

Shoot the cat ! :2gunsfiring:

:laugh:

[christensonjes]

Droinablunt has some lights for sale right now for cheap. May be a good option.