If you did want to do this, there are two methods: the native Hub Link and Link to Hub apps, or the new community HubConnect app. That being said, it's quite odd that just adding this dimmer would affect your network in that way. I only have one and I rarely use it, but I haven't noticed any problems (I have lots of Philips Dimmers too, but they are connected directly to my Hue network). Have you tried your network without the Iris v1 devices, by chance? Support for those is pretty new, and I've only seen a few reports of problems, but it's possible they just haven't been tested enough.