My hood died...

Sandman333 said:
I hope it is, there's even a possibility that you just have a loose wire or a blown fuse somewhere in the hood.
When my starter wasn't working, the ends of the bulb were lighting, but not the center. Since yours has no lighting at all, I'd open it up and make sure there are no loose connections before completely replacing anything.
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I tried tweaking everything to make sure it was all in there soundly, but it seemed to be to no avail. The starter seems a good culprit, though, as for a long time I had trouble with it not lighting up. I assumed it was the switch, which was (one of) the reasons I got a timer-- that way I could leave it on and not have to worry about the switch. It's hard to say, but at least the starter is a cheap thing to try.
 
Woo, I just found a great deal on craigslist for a 33 gallon tank! Now I'll have a bigger tank (my angel will be thrilled!) and I have time to figure out what's wrong on my 20-gallon hood. I'm so excited!
 
check kmart for shop lights they sell them soooooo cheap and they have a bunch of sizes.. autoparts stores often have great deals on them as well... like 48" light for $10... then just find a bulb you like at your lfs or lowes/homedepot
 
Thanks for the idea chester... I'm going to keep running my 20 gal, in addition to my new 33 gal, so I'll look into that! I haven't had a chance to pick up a new starter yet, just to try that, but I should be able to do that tonight.
 
If it's the typical light that sits on top of the hood, I've found that a cheap undercounter flourescent fixture will more-r-less fit under the light housing once you gut it. I set the light on top of the glass, then the empty housing over it.
 
Thanks for the ideas... I may yet try that.

I did pick up another starter, but it did not fix the problem. It was weird, on a whim I just tried the old starter again, and it actually lit up once, which got me excited. Then I thought well maybe it was intermittently failing, so I unplugged it and put the new one in, and the starter lit up a few times, but the light didn't come on. Gave up on that after a few, and went back to the old one and got the same behaviour for about 2 more tries. Then it stopped doing anything altogether, regardless of which starter was in there, or which bulb (I put my spare in, too.. just trying all combinations). So it seems that there is something deeper afoot.

The good news is, I have my new tank set up and for the moment everyone is in there, including my plants. So I have time to figure out what I want to do.
 
Sandman333 said:
It could be the ballast, or it could be loose wiring. Make sure all the electrical connections are good, then give it another try.
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Thanks Sandman-- in the end I tried taking it apart, looking for loose wiring or components, and could find nothing. So I ended up buying a new one! Hopefully this one will last better!
 
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