new to MH questions?

[silence88]

I just got my first MH light, its a used 175w SE hamilton pendant wich might have to small a beem for one side of my 75g but if so i plan to put it over my 24g nanocube, however I am very new to MH so i have some newb questions;

the ballast says hamilton but dos not say if its magnetic or electric, how can i tell? its quite heavy and the bulb takes a mintute or so to fire up when turned on if that meens anything,

I got an extra pendant with cord as well, were would be a good place to get a ballast? and if i buy an electric one and the one i have now is magnetic will there be a diffrent in bulbs/color/brightness?

only the spare pendant has a glass shield is this realy needed?

were do you all put the ballasts? sence it gets so hot I am scared to put it in under the stand, plus there is splater from the sump, shoud i have a fan blowing on it?

 

[Chris27]

A glass shield is required for double ended bulbs, given that you stated yours was 175W, it's probably a singled ended or mogul bulb, so no the glass shield is not needed.

Theoretically, you want two matching ballasts, bulbs and reflectors so that the light is as evenly matched as possible across the tank.....really any ballast will due....but your tank may look weird to you if one side is bluer then the other.

Hamilton replacement ballasts are available on their website, so you can just pick one up there if you want, otherwise most every LFS or online vendor carry MH parts, just pick one and run with it.

As for if it's magnetic or electronic, I don't own any hamilton products personally, but if it's very heavy and very hot while running, it's probably magnetic. Does it have a hum to it - magnetic ballasts tend to hum while they are running. If you're worried about the heat, you can mount the ballast on the back of your stand or canopy so that cool air can circulate around it. The housing they are in is designed and machined so that it dissipates the heat properly, if you want to add a fan you can, but it's not necessary.

 

[Shard]

You should be able to look up whether it is magnetic or electronic by the part number. Weight is relative, and all MHs take a little while to get started. You could always call Hamilton for confirmation or part number checking. The tips Chris27 gave you should give you a good idea. His answers also cover about everything else in your post.

I will say a 175w MH bulb with the proper reflector should be sufficient for one half of your 75g tank. I initially had my 90g reef (same footprint as a 75, but taller) illuminated with a 2 x 150w MH - 2 x 96w Actinic fixture and everything was fine.

Hope all this helps,
Landon

 

[silence88]

thanks I was going to call and ask them but there is no part number on it, just there info number and a warning,

I looked on there site and both there electric and magnetic ballasts look the same, one thing is that the ballasts on there site have a plug in for the lamp cord, the spare pendant has this type of plug on it, but the ballast I have dos not have a plug in on it it has a solid wire comeing out that was cut then wired up with the cord from the pendant, so I am wondering if its an older model ballast,

I also see on there site that the shield is acrylic not glass wich i thought would melt? i will see i can get some cut for the other pendant,

I will see about attaching the ballast too the back of the stand I have not had it realy running yet as I was worried if the sides or top of it were touching the inside of the stand it could start a fire,

the reflector on the pendants sucks its not reflective just white, is there anything i can put on it to make it better?

 

[silence88]

heres some pics if they work, they are the ballast and how the ballast is wired to the prendant

 

[oscar.millan]

I would still confirm, but I believe these are magnetic ballasts.