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Lighting died

jameson_uk

jameson_uk

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Joined
10 Jun 2016
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879
Location
Birmingham
Just walked in to feed the fish and as I opened the hood, the lights went out. These are the stock Juwel T5s on my Rio 180.

Electrics are fine and I can see they are trying to start with the odd flicker but the tubes don't light.

I don't have time to play tonight but I was under the impression that T5s lasted a long time so it will be the ballast that has gone???

Not going to be able to get new lighting for a while so any suggestions on what I can do to keep the plants happy?
 
More than one tube to go like that seems a bit odd as dampness ingressed the connections.? They do last a log time way beyond the manafacturer recommended change recommendation. Can you try a couple of desk lamps as a temporary measure if it’s longer than a few days.l am not familiar with Juwel but I assume the whole lighting fitmant can be replaced if it’s the worst scenario
 
You do get random tube failures. Of course with Juwel units if one tube fails the other won't light.

I have had water penetrate my Juwel unit and lights this certainly causes the lights to stop working/flicker. Try leaving the light unit in airing cupboard for a day or two, which did fix mine.

Take unit to local fish shop and see if they can fit a new tube/tubes to so you can see if it is a tube failure.
 
I red several threads about coroding contacts in Juwel hoods causing light problems.. Seems to to be a rather common Juwel design issue. And since it is a German product also a rather common topic in German forums. It also seems to be rather a pain in the neck to open them without damaging parts, because it is glued and dowelled instead of screwed.

And i can confirm, the last Juwel hood i took apart to convert it from T5 to Led. I tried to take out all parts intact and store them. I failed, the ballast shatered beyond repair with trying to take it out. Might be heat dissipation causing the plastic to becomme brittle over the years. Also noticed corosion on the wiring contacts, at the balast and the tube fittings. Causing more resistance and heat and britlle insulation near the contact points.
 
I am back home on Thursday so will take a trip to LFS. I have the hood off now and room lights and indirect light from a window but not really anywhere to balance any other light.

How long before the plants will start to be affected?

I had been considering whether to replace the unit with the Juwel LED Helialux anyway as the 2x45w T5 setup is too high really for my low tech setup and have several measured in place to counteract / balance this so that might not be the end of the world...

If light is dead i guess the other option is eaving the hood off and getting an better light. Not sure the Juwel is really designed for an open top setup
 
Most stuff will die off fairly quickly due to lack of light, barring crypts, echinodorus, java ferns, mosses, and easy carpeting plants like dwarf sag and marsilea, other plants will gradually just melt or die back in order of light demand.
 
Yes, expect some melting and leaves falling off but how fast plants die depends on the plant. They may linger for weeks. Plants will bounce back if there's some bits left of them. I have a small 7g tank that has very low light in which anubias has gone crazy. Some time upon set up several years back I planted stem plants which tend to disappear during winter and come back in the summer when the tank starts getting sunlight from the window :)
 
Does depend, and they can surprise you I just found a piece of bogwood in the greenhouse all winter with greenish tints of what I thought should be now dead Java moss,back in the tank greening up lovely, java fern anubias can stand not much light in a bucket for a week or two the algae goes and they look healthy as ever when returned
 
PARAGUAY said:
Does depend, and they can surprise you I just found a piece of bogwood in the greenhouse all winter with greenish tints of what I thought should be now dead Java moss,back in the tank greening up lovely
Click to expand...

I had driftwood in the cupboard completely dried out, was there for months. When I put it back in the tank it grew moss on it. Then I remembered I had planted moss on it some years back. Funny, but that moss never took off the time I planted it because I had a pleco in the tank and it actually came back to live years after I first put it on the driftwood :)
 
The main flora is low tech but was worried they would transition to their new conditions and start to die off before regrowing (and then do the same when light got added back)

I ended up picking up the Juwel Helialux LED kit from LFS for a few £ more than online (luckily it was reduced by 20%). Really expensive but seems like a nice bit of kit and means I am now in control of the light rather than trying to balance the stock T5HO tubes. (Just don't tell the wife how much it was...)

Just the limnophila sessiliflora that looks to have suffered but hopefully it will sort itself out again now. I will see hoe everything looks over the next week or so.
 
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