I recently got a 16g aquarium and am in the process of setting it up.
After cutting the a hole in my hood/canopy to fit my filter, I realized that I put it directly in front of the location where the wire connects to the light. This means the wire will be about 1 inch away from water flowing out of the filter. Since the wire does not appear to have any special insulation to protect against water, is this considered dangerous? Should I get another hood and placed the filter away from the wire?
I've attached some pictures of what it looks like.
I haven't had any issues?
over time it would be a problem.
I personally would get some hard tubing and force the wire away from the light, or a cheaper solution, super glue the power cord to the light fixture for the first few inches to pull it away from the filter and then silicon around the wire where it enters the fixture.
The question comes down to.. is it freshwater or saltwater? Fresh - I wouldn't worry.. SALT.. I would.
Me.. I would cover it in a bit of silicone.. That will solve some risk :)
Quote from: delslo on February 10, 2013, 02:03:06 PM
I personally would get some hard tubing and force the wire away from the light, or a cheaper solution, super glue the power cord to the light fixture for the first few inches to pull it away from the filter and then silicon around the wire where it enters the fixture.
That's a good idea. Thanks.
Quote from: JetJumper on February 10, 2013, 07:00:31 PM
The question comes down to.. is it freshwater or saltwater? Fresh - I wouldn't worry.. SALT.. I would.
Me.. I would cover it in a bit of silicone.. That will solve some risk :)
It's a fresh water tank. That would definitely help. I WISH I thought of this problem before I cut out the panels. :(
No problem at all, but if you still want piece of mind make sure your pluged into a GFCI protected circuit, witch it should be for any aquarium anyway.
If you're concerned enough about it, I'm sure that you could cut a new hole carefully over to the side and "patch up" that old one with the cut out or a fresh piece of plastic... Or, just buy a new canopy. I don't think they are very expensive. (If I had $1 for every "WHOOPS!" that had me running back to the store.....)
You will get a little evaporation out that hole, and it will likely accumulate there... But really, anything electrical that is meant to sit over water should be sealed up internally already - right? Like JetJumper suggested, a little clear silicone around the joint - just in case - might be all that's needed. :)