Urgent droped t-5 into tank.

what should i do the light was off it happend 30 seconds ago. one end of my t-5 lights were in the wter for a good second or two. right now it is off, and i have it angled so all the water is going to flow out the side. how lond should i leave the light off for and were is the ballest on coral life 2 bulb t-5 light????

thanks

 

Unplug it.

Take the bulbs and the reflector out. You should see the ballast under the reflector. Make sure it didn't get wet. Dry it out as well as you can with a towel and let it air dry over night.

 

you mean the fixture or the bulb? I'm assuming you meant you dropped the fixture in...

So, along with the above poster's recommendations, I'd try to take as much of the fixture apart as possible (unplugged of course) and dry it out using a hair dryer or compressed air... you really want it to be dry before you turn it back on again....

If it's an electronic ballast and the electronics got wet, then you really want to take extra precaution... you may need to wait a bit longer before you turn it on again... some components like ICs can get water trapped under them, and turning it on before it is dry will cause a short... which at best will blow a fuse or at worse cause fire or significant damage to the fixture.

 

I dropped my powermodule in the tank once, and all I did was remove the bulbs, sprayed WD40 on the endcaps, and the wire nuts, wiped down. The WD40 will help draw any saltwater from the endcaps, so just wipe it off. You can plug it back in, I know I did, and never had a problem for over a year.