That just means there is air in the lines, turn the pump off and disconnect the output line from the pump and reconnect it. That should fix your problem.
It does not have to be a workhorse. Advance makes a great t5 ballast as well as vossloh schwabb etc. The 3-4 means it can run 3 or 4 lamps.
Yes the 54 indicates wattage of the lamps, the 48" t5's are 54 watts.
No problem, glad I can help. I worked for one of the major aquarium...
I got it to work, I would recommend you spend a couple extra dollars on a better ballast, some of the cheaper ones have reliability issues, and can cause damage to your lamps.
Cool, you could use a workhorse 7 ballast for 4 48" lamps, in addition to the ballast you will need a power cord, 2 end caps per lamp, and some rubber coated copper wire. Additionally, if you wanted to add an on/off switch you could that as well.
There are ballasts that can run up to 4 lamps and also ones that run 1-2 lamps. The ballasts usually come with 10 inches leads that need to be extended when assembling, but I would try to keep it within about 6 feet.
In order to choose the correct ballast, I will need to know how many lamps you are planning to run and how long the bulbs will be. As far as heat production, t5ho ballasts do not create that much heat and you can remote mount them.
Pigglett, how far is their basking spot from the lamp? I ask because over the past month ive noticed that my chameleons will bask under the light more throughout the day since I have changed over. I saw your 6.5 readings in a previous post and was wondering if they were through the screen or...
maybe someone with experience with the 6.5 can chime in, my readings with the 50w at 12 inches without screen was ~250 uw/cm2 and outside on a sunny day I am getting around ~300. Through the screen I was cut down to about ~150.
I'm not sure what that reading means on the 6.5, but what are your readings on the meter out in the sun? As far as temps go, I had the same issue with he 35's and upgraded them to 50's, we had a couple cold days and the 35's were not cutting it. I ended up drilling a hole in the top and bottom...