first time halide is turned on, is this normal?

nemo g

New member
hey,

i just turned the halide fixture on for the first time, and the bulb acted wierd. i hope its just me, since its my first halide.

is this normal?

turned on, so dim it looked off.

flickered got a lil brighter but still really dim.

did this repeatedly until it got somewhat bright, but still not what i expected.

is this normal? is this burn in? how long does it do this for?

thanks for helpin a halide noob.
 
Mine acted a little strange at first but not that bad??

What type of bulb/ballast are you running?
 
Sounds normal to me too. The more hrs. you use it the faster it should turn on. If you already have some corals in your tank be sure to acclimate them to the new light.
 
its a blue wave III sls ballast and a gieseman coral bulb.

there it also had a major greenish yellow hue, not at all near the pure white i exected.

luckily i dont need it as it was going on my tank upgrade.

if it is typical, how long if left running should it get nice and bright and close to the white its suppose to be?

i only left it on for about 5 or so minutes as i was worried somehing was wrong.
 
In 5 minutes it should've been on long enough. Mine take about a minute to get fully bright. What K is the bulb. Some ballast/bulb combinations dont work right, but I cant help there.
 
My 14K Hamilton's were a BEAUtiful blueish color for the first month or so and then they started turning more white. They still look ok but I really liked the blueish color they had through the burn in.
 
there should be specs on things you wouldn't even think of, like the angle the bulb sits at...

i'm not saying this is your problem but in my last hobby, hydroponics, i had problems with keeping my 400 w 20,000k bulb at a 15 degree angle... this cuased it to spew a yellowish color, untill i properly installed it i never saw the true color...
 
dont think thats an issue nathan, since the bulb sits flush in the socket of a reef optix reflector.
 
well i guess 180 degrees is exactly what it requires, just a suggestion...

sounds like you know enough not to need help from anyone
 
well, et it run for about an hour and it looks like everything is getting "normal".

after turning it on the third time, it got brighter quicker, flicker was minimized, and was pretty white.

thanks for all the help, never know when i may have a real issue and all the advice was appreciated and im sure will come in handy sooner or later.

have a root :beer: on me :D
 
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