Hamilton Halide Setup Instructions
-
Remove Clear Film
from all surfaces – hood
& clear splash lens. One end of the hood has a couple of little
screws that hold a small metal bar in place which keeps the lens
in. Once off you can slide the lens out & access the interior.
-
Install Halide &
VHO Bulbs: Make sure
hands are clean when handling the metal halide bulbs as skin oils
can make “hot spots” & can break the bulbs. Screw bulbs in sockets
until snug. Do not over tighten.
-
Plug Hood power
cords into Ballasts: The
plugs can only fit into their own corresponding plug so do not worry
about crossing the plugs. You will, however, need to figure out
which halide plug runs the 2 bulbs & which one runs the single
halide.
Note: Do not try to
fire up all 3 halide bulbs at the same time. Wait 5 minutes in
between. Halides do not always fire right up on first try,
especially new bulbs. Let them stay powered for 10 minutes & shut
them off if they don’t fire up all the way. Wait 10 minutes with
them off before trying to turn them on again. May take a few tries
before they will fire so don’t think you have bad bulbs right away.
Once they fire all the way they should always fire first try. Just
a matter of getting them going. The VHO’s should fire first try.
Only the halides can take a few tries.
-
Plug Ballasts
Power Cords Into Their Own Timer:
Plug your ballasts (individual
ballast power cords) into their own
Heavy Duty Grounded
timer.
-
Hanging System:
You will want to get your hanging system ready asap as
you don’t want your
halide light hood sitting on the rim of your tank!
Suspend 2-3 inches off the rim.
How To Time Your Light System
Before trying to set up your
lights on timers consider when you’re available to sit & view the tank
as well as what you’d like to see when viewing.
Example: I have a 3 Metal halide/VHO light system. I like sit & view
the tank at 6pm with all the lights on & I want to see it power down
through all the light changes. I also want the main 10K lights out to
watch evening TV around 8pm. I’ve chosen a 12 hour cycle so therefore
my timers are set as follows:
8am - Actinics
on
9am – 2 outer halides
on
10am – center halide
on
6 - 6:30 I'm
looking at my tank: 6:30pm 2 outer halides
off
7:30pm – center halide
off
8pm – Actinics
off
Customize your own light pattern!
Again,
a basic lighting configuration should be 12 - 14 hours per day. The
first timer should power the actinics/blue and the second timer powers
the white/daylight. A third timer is used for those with a 2 metal
halides & Moon lights or 4 timers with 3 metal halide bulbs system &
moon lights systems.
Set
the daylights to come on 1 - 2 hours after the actinics & the opposite
for the shut off. The daylights power off 1 - 2 hours before the
actinics. Systems with Moon lights have a timer which would turn on the
moons after both main lights (10K & actinics) are off. Set the moon
lights to run all night & to shut off just before the main lights come
on again.
Contact Penny
with any questions or concerns!
