Lights Overheating??

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Agent_Scully

AC Oscar Club Member #1
Jul 9, 2008
243
0
0
Georgia
Today I got the exoterra compact fluorescent light hood. It comes with 2 26 watt ballasts made for tropical terrariums. The box also said 5.0. I only left it on for an hour and i noticed my room smelled weird. I think they were too close to the grate of the tank cover so I am going to raise it three inches above.

On the instructions for the canopy it said do not expose to water or humidity. Obviously a vivarium will need to be humid so here is my plan. I just need to know if it will affect the light recieved by the live plants. I also planned on doing this to keep the inside of the tank humid.

I have a large sheet of plastic ( I thinks its acrillic) I will cut it to fit inside the tank cover so that it covers 3/4 of the top including the area directly below the canopy hoping to reduce humidity damage. Is this going to affect the light getting to the plants. Its a total of 52 watts I believe.
 

DAVIDFBT

Extinct? Since when?
Feb 3, 2008
3,584
0
0
30
Great Lakes, Illinois
Real Name
Definitely not David
Is the screen to the vivarium plastic or metal? Did you notice the top of the fixture almost melting from the heat? A fluorescent light should not be melting plastic from the heat unless it's in direct contact with the plastic. It's okay to expose the light to humidity, just not so much that you notice water forming on the light or fixture.
 

calivivarium1

Finished the fight
May 5, 2008
1,432
25
51
Fresno, California
Its clear plastic stuff, right? Naw, I wouldn't worry about it. I mean, I use Lexan(I think thats it..) to cover my PC fixtures in my aquarium. No problems there...
 
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