Halide connection problem

[Jynxgirl]

I had a bit of a wet morning :( The power went out last night and the sump went over.. I don't understand it as the overflow box was nearly an inch up from the bottom of where the water finally stopped going over. :(

But, my real problem. When I went to plug my halides back in, one of the connections 'burnt' ? Lack of a better word. Once I figured that was where the smell was coming from, it had a small area out of the female between the two prongs that is now a gouged out area. The ballast will run the one light on either cord but when I plug the female connection from my left light in to either of the cords going into the ballast, they immediatly start smoking. I am going to have my roommate look at them, but I am no electrician. Should I get another female cord or ?? replace the entire connection including the male and female connections.

Ouch.. and my spouse just put the smack down on buying anymore fish stuff.. LOL

Jill

[brewercm]

You may just have two wires touching each other in the female connection.
As for your overflow, does your return from your pump sit below the water level about the same as where the water finally stopped draining out of your tank to the sump. You may need to drill a hole into the return just below the water level that will act as a break in the siphon to your pump if the power goes out.

[Jynxgirl]

It does. I didn't think about why it would end up so far below. makes perfect since now that you pointed that out. Thank you. Another project :D

Jill

[hobogato]

to stop that return line from siphoning, you can just drill a small hole in it just below the water line, so when the water drops below it, it breaks the siphon.

[brewercm]

Just for info purposes and I don't intend to hijack your thread.
Any time anybody sets up a tank and you have it up and running and your sump flowing etc., turn off the power and find out the max level your sump will support and I usually run mine a little below that. Now you know that you wont have a overflow from your sump at least. Of course you can still overflow your tank if your drains get plugged up and your pump runs your sump dry.