The plastic shield on my nanocube's melting!!!

[Meloco14]

I added two 13 watt PC lights into the hood of my nano, and fit all three lights under the plastic shield that came with it. I noticed today that the plastic by the base of one of the 13 watt bulbs is melted. It isn't totally gone, but it melted enough to bend and deform. What the heck? Shouldn't this stuff be able to withstand the heat of PC bulbs? The stock bulb hasn't done any damage, and I'm not sure if both 13 watt bulbs are guilty, but I know my hellolights 50/50 is. Do these lights run hotter than normal or something? The melting seems to be right at the metal base of the bulb. Is there something I can do to cover the metal base to absorb some of the heat? Or is there something I can do to the plastic shield? Right now I am stuck running only the stock 24 watt bulb. any advice?

Juck, you used one of these 13 watt worklights right? Did you have any problems?

 

[Juck]

Yup,, i only have one in there though,, the plastic gets hot but it's not discolored or melted (yet).

I can't think of a way to dissipate the heat other than moving the bulb further away from the plastic which would probably mean relocating the stock ballast so you can flatten out the reflector.


Maybe you got a bad bulb or something but now you got me worried!

 

[Meloco14]

A guy on nano-reefs.com had the same problem. He suggested putting a piece of plexi-glass or lexan on the inside lip of the cube, using it more like a tank cover rather than a light shield. I think i'm gonna try that...