Eclipse 12 replacement light

[sparkydave]

I have an Eclipse 12 system, and apparently the ballast has bit the big one. The light went out, and apparently it just does a good job of killing bulbs. I put a replacement bulb in, it gave a single bright flash, and that was the end of the bulb. Well, Marineland wants >$50 for a complete hood without a bulb, but I have a small 18" 15 watt fluorescent lamp I got from Home Depot I was using for growing plants, and noticed that that fixture could fit nicely under the hood. Other than making sure it doesn't fall into the water, does it seem like this is a bad idea? A friend thinks it needs an aquarium rated fixture, but I know I had an incandescent fixture for an old 5 gallon tank that was just a standard socket. Needless to say, that one got a bit nasty and I finally had to pitch it. This seems like if I kept the diffuser over the bulb, it would not get wet. Any thoughts? I could also wrap it in a plastic bag as another layer of protection against condensation.
-Dave

 

[hyunelan2]

did you search through www.bigalsonline.com to see if they had what you need? It's probably cheaper than marineland. I'm not too familiar with the system 12, so I don't know if the bulb housing is a seperate piece from the rest of the hood, like mine, or if it's alll one big piece. I bought the light assembly portion of my eclipse 2 hood from there for about $34/shipped

 

[sparkydave]

Thanks, but it doesn't look like Big Al has it. The lamp just has 3 screws holding it onto the hood, but it isn't used on any of the other Eclipse models. I'm still thinking I'll just get the generic light fixture, seal it in a plastic bag, and use that instead.
-Dave