Change lamp lamp from 100volts to 240 volts

[john east]

Was given this Aquarium lamp which originally made for use in Japan and have been using it here in the U.K. plugged into a 100volt transformer. Its now flickering on and off like there is no tomorrow.

Presumably I can buy a new similar lamp which works on 240 volt rather than

100volt? But what to do to replace this item which says Ballast on the label?

Photo of all the bits on a host web site

the cover it says: 'Ballast', M/No. PL13-1005/6 PL13W x 1. Imput:100V

50/60Hz 0.285A.

And on the Lamp it says: Aqua Lux 13W 7200K

Grateful for any advice on how to set it all up to work on 240 volts. Thanks.

[dennis]

Buy a new ballast and lamp from an aquarium shop. I would chuck the whole thing as I don't like the way the tube connects assuming its those floating wires I can see. I have seen similar lights in my local shop for about £20 ( same tube, 240V ballast and a proper holder for the lamp).

You could use some LED strips like the lidl ones for £15 or from eBay.

[Adrian Brentnall]

No you couldn't! The phosphors on aquarium tubes are chosen to provide the right spectrum of light for fish, plants, corals etc - in some cases a mixture of different fluorescent tubes and/or gas discharge lighting is used - LED strips from LIDL are almost certainly not suitable. It's not just 'a pretty light' that's required.

Adrian

[Graham.]

I discourage any living organisms in my fish tank except the fish! Plastic plants, no risk of introducing those little snails that you can't get rid of, and very little algae.

I've even has fish breed 3 times in a year, and didn't do anything special, the tank got so crowded I thought I would have to give some away.

[Davey]

...until you introduced the piranhas, that is?

--=20 Davey.

[dennis]

Yes it is. The fish don't care. The plants photosynthesis if there is enough light and its damn hard to balance plants and fish anyway so most people just shove in silk/plastic ones rather than trying to balance CO2, etc. The coral is dead. You chose whichever tube gives you the feeling its pretty. I have some T5 daylight + a very white one supposedly for corals tubes myself.

[dennis]

A couple of angelfish will keep the young'uns under control.

[Colin Stamp]

You'll probably have trouble finding a plug-top ballast cheaply - they're the kind of thing you only ever see as part of a complete fitting. It'd probably be less hassle to buy a whole new fitting.

The supply voltage is irrelevant to the tube, so a UK-sourced tube should run fine in the fitting with the ballast and transformer as before.

Cheers,

Colin.

[Andrew Gabriel]

You need a new fitting - the one pictured isn't suitable for conversion to 240V. It sounds like you need a new tube too, so you can simply toss the whole lot into the bin and start again without losing anything.

Go to a (UK) aquarium supplier and look for a new lighting solution there, not from a country with different mains voltage.

[Ericp]

I think he meant live coral where the light is critical, not to mention the required flow of water across it. With live coral, you can really stuff the fish, much more to look at.

[dennis]

There is much more to keeping coral alive than the light.

Personally I don't think people should harvest live coral to kill in aquariums.

[John Williamson]

Guppies keep their own young under control, which is why you need to leave some plants in as shelter.

[john east]

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So it looks to me that Colin's advice of getting a U.K. tube, (since the supply voltage is irrelevant to the tube) is the easiest and cheapest solution. Thanks and thanks to all.

[Reentrant]

Assuming this is a freshwater tank.... You need to encourage nitrifying bacteria at the very least - normally in the pump filter. Otherwise you'll get a build up of toxic ammonia. The bacteria convert excreted nitrogen compounds to nitrite, then nitrate, which would (normally) then be used by live plants.

Without live plants the excess nitrate encourages algae. Assassin snails are very good at controlling plant snails.

Finally (IMHO) plastic plant just looks awful.

[grimly4]

A couple of these will keep anyone under control...

ITV1 Tues 7.30pm River Monster Series 3, Episode 1: The Mutilator New series of the show in which biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade searches for some of the world's most terrifying fish. In this episode, he travels to Papua New Guinea to investigate a spate of bizarre deaths on the Sepik River. He is on the trail of a water creature that has been tearing chunks out of fishermen and devouring male body parts. Known locally as the 'ball-cutter', this lone hunter with vice-like jaws has so far taken the lives of two fishermen. Jeremy has never fished this part of the world and knows little of what might be out there - is he ready for what he will find? TWTR SUB

Weirdest set of fish teeth I ever saw - as the man said on the prog, just like a human mouth.

[john east]

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I'm always careful to maintain the green bacteria in the sponge filter of my underwater aquarium pump (fresh water), but i still get a dark green algea growing on everything including any live plants i put in.

The plants never seem to last long. The tank is not near a window, but at the back of the south facing room. I change ten percent of the water every week. Reentrant any suggestions please, to get plants to live long and without the algae?

[Andrew Gabriel]

The light you have is useless for plants. You want a growlux type light, or a warm white (2700K) is also a reasonably good match (need plenty of red component). However, you would need higher power too, or just a little sunlight will swamp whatever you provide artificially. I rather imagine the algae will benefit equally though. Algae grow on the nitrogen from fish (or other) droppings, or rotting vegetation. I used to keep fish, and algae was generally a sign that you weren't cleaning the nitrogen (droppings) out of the tank often or well enough, which will ultimately turn into ammonia. Don't know what your green bacteria in the sponge filter are, but I used to disinfect and clean the filter more often than anything, but make sure that in removing the filter, you don't let any water drain out of it back into the tank, which would be highly contaminated with nitrogen products. I didn't change any of the water weekly, but did change it all when cleaning out the whole tank, perhaps every 10 weeks (don't recall precisely now). With those measures, I didn't get any algae, and plants grew if you had enough that the fish didn't eat them faster than they could grow.

[Zapp Brannigan]

Try Seachem Excel - works really well here