You only need to supplement 10k halide bulbs if you do not like the yellow tint everything has, if you can live with it they give you the best results.
From what i've read the aquaconnect bulbs have one of if not THE best PAR for a 14k bulb. But I like my hamiltons :)

Sanjay's page is very easy to use:

1. Go to "Search Performance Data"
2. Go to "By Ballast" (in your case)
3. Select "Watts = 150", "Ballast type = HQI" (for your DE bulbs), "Shielded = Both" (your unit is most likely shielded, but you get a better idea seeing both options)
4. Submit
5. The chart that pops up default ranks from highest PPFD (aka "PAR") to lowest. For example, the G-man 10K shielded bulb has a PAR of 72. Not bad for a shielded bulb. The highest PAR comes from the unshielded Icecap 6500K.

As you can see, PAR values tend to degrade as K-values go up.

Another interesting bit of info Sanjay gives you is the "CCT" column. This is the ACTUAL measured colour temp of the bulb. For example, the shielded G-man 10K bulb's actual colour is slightly warmer at 8,552K whereas the Aqualine Blushke 10K bulb comes in cooler at 12,229K.

Sanjay's data is by no means "out of date". He constantly adds to the data as he tests more bulbs and ballasts. He uses the same bulbs and the same ballasts that we use. The 10K G-man bulb he tested is the same 10K G-man bulb on J&L's shelf and the M81 HQI ballast is the same design of ballast sitting under your tank. This page is one of the too few UNBIASED + scientifically valid sources of information in this hobby.

This is what I get for looking at the page on my phone - Seeing this now with that info, that makes one hell of a bit of difference.

Now - what does "shielded" actually mean? From what I've understood, those are bulbs that are encased in a glass covering - right?

My only other question is that there is literally only one DE Shielded 14k bulb at 150w on this list, and most of those at the "lower" end of the scale don't actually have any CCT data.

If you go into a more common wattage, that changes things rather dramatically. For example, the G-Man 13k bulb is second from the top in the shielded ratings and actually 3 of the top 10 are over 10k...

now, the question is - if I found those bulbs/makers in 150w flavours, would I experience similar/equivalent results? If so, that just shows me where I need to go! :)

This article may answer some of your questions:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...004/review.htm

No CCT data means just that: he simply wasn't able to properly/accurately measure the colour temperature from the lamp for whatever reason.

The reason why PAR goes down as K-temp goes up is because most photosynthetic activity occurs around 6500K. As a result, you can't have you cake and eat it too with high K and high PAR, generally speaking. That's why people use actinic supplementation. There are a few exceptions like the Iwasaki 13K 175W bulb on an electronic ballast that has more PAR than many 250W bulbs.