light fixture broke

[gale]

I was looking to see what kind of light I had in the fixture. It is a plant and aquarium bulb so I went to put it back in and the end thing broke (it's flourescent). I took the fixure out so that I could remove the end thing and get a new one, and noticed the fixture is kind of corroded in spots so I probably need to replace it. Plus I can't figure out how to get the wires out of the end thing. I call the lfs and they can't get a fixture in until wednesday (and it's spendy-$25). Do places like home depot usually sell just the fixure part? (not the plastic cover). If not can I clean the corroded part somehow?

And more importantly, how will my plants and fish cope with no light for a couple of days?

 

[gale]

Well my husband went and got an end for me, and fixed it. So they only went without light for a few hours.

 

[konrad05]

Good to hear!

 

[Lateral Line]

For future reference, fish don't really need the light at all, the natural daylight the tank receives is adequate. Plants will stop photosynthesising without light. This is not a big deal, sometimes the weather in the tropics can be very dismal - been there done that. They are usually fine for up to a week before there is obvious signs of trouble.

 

[gale]

For future reference, fish don't really need the light at all, the natural daylight the tank receives is adequate. Plants will stop photosynthesising without light. This is not a big deal, sometimes the weather in the tropics can be very dismal - been there done that. They are usually fine for up to a week before there is obvious signs of trouble.

There is NO daylight whatsoever in the room they are in. Imagine this: a room with 4 walls, 2 of which are dark brown, almost black paneling (very popular in the 70's, apparently), one which is almost all stone and a fireplace, and one is a counter that is on the other side of the kitchen, with cabinets hanging up above to block the light. The kitchen light doesn't even make it into this room. Then imagine this: the bozos who build the house put NO light fixture in this room, plus they put dark brown beams on the ceiling, so even the white of the ceiling is broken by these ugly beams. The door is way on the other side of the fireplace from the fishtank so the fireplace blocks any light that might come in the window that is on that door. The only exterior wall is the one with the fireplace, so there's not even a remote possibility of a window. Unfortunately the tank is already set up in this room and we don't have room for it anywhere else. I spend a lot of time in there with the fish as do my kids but it's not our main living room. We used to use it as our living room (with lamps but they didn't really light it up like I wanted) but moved into a different room instead. One that also has no built in lights but it does have a huge picture window to let some natural light in.

The people who designed and built this house were on drugs.

 

[Lateral Line]

That sounds most, errmmm, interesting? I guess I'd have to see it to appreciate it! When I bought my last house in England, 2 of the walls in the living room were painted a dark chocolate brown colour - 3 coats of "one coat covers anything" white paint later, the room was tranformed.

Seriously though, many fish come from very dimly lit environs. I have collected in the dense rainforest regions in South America, Central Africa and SE Asia, and the forrest floor can often require the use of lights at midday! There are cave dwelling species that live in the dark all their lives, some no longer have eyes.