Hi guys! First time I've posted in here for awhile but thought I'd update a few things since my last post. As always still tweeking heat and lighting trying to find the right balance between best and cost effective for replacement bulbs. I recently installed megarays metal hallide bulb in my viv. It's a beautiful bulb with great white light. The only downside, as plenty of people have told me and as I've seen for myself has been the decay rate at wich the uvi dissipates. At $50 a bulb and the rate they decay its not really cost effective. I seen someone recommend these Phillips cdm-r metal hallide bulbs in one of my reptile groups and asked fran baines about them. She said they have great color as well, and safe to use. They cost about $31 a bulb online which isn't a great savings but they do not produce uvi so should last alot longer then the 6 or so months a megaray metal hallide will. Plan on using it in conjunction with my arcadia 12% strip flourescent. At $31 a bulb plus a ballast that can be bought for around $60 and up depending on what functions you want and how much you want to spend, is actually quite affordable now. Another post I read recommended using a regular twist timer instead of a electronic timer with the metal hallide. Something about current possibly being able to leak out of a electronic timer and blowing the metal hallide ballast. Just thought I'd throw that in there. Deciding on what kind of ballast to get for a metal hallide can be a little confusing or intimidating but it's really not that bad once you start asking about them!