Corrosion in UV Lamp Fixture

[wpeterson]

TL;DR: Saltwater in dry lamp chamber of UV. Fixable? Dangerous?

I have a Coralife Turbotwist 12x UV filter (36w lamp). I've had mine running for about 9 months and decided to change the bulb today with a new one. I previously broke down and cleaned everything about 3 months ago.

I turned off the power to the UV lamp and the pump that drives water through it like usual. I drained the external UV chamber and disconnected the inlet/outlet tubes.

When I unscrewed the lamp chamber from the outer chamber, there was a terrible electric smell and I noticed a golf-ball sized block of salt around the lamp fixture and base of the bulb. It looked like a slow leak had been letting saltwater into the dry chamber.

Can I clean this out and replace the o-rings? I used rubbing alcohol to dissolve the salt creep on the fixture. Is this dangerous enough I need to replace the ballast/fixture?

 

[wpeterson]

The ballast fixture is blown.

I believe what happened is a slow, trickle leak over time. The UV Filter was mounted horizontally, but when I moved it, the accumulated saltwater sloshed onto the fixture and caused a short, melting a hole in the middle of the contacts.

It looks like I need to buy a new ballast, but at $100 it's more than I payed for this whole unit :-/ I just bought two replacement bulbs as well :-/

If anybody has a spare 36w Turbotwist ballast.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Ouch, but yeah, little ionic fluid, some dc current, and you can bust through prison bars! (at least as shown on Mythbusters )

 

[wpeterson]

It looks like Jebao makes a 36w UV with better fittings that sells for $75 - so I'm going to try a whole new unit from them instead of replacing the ballast for $100 if the gaskets or external tube on the coralife are broken.