"Your mileage may vary" but I find a good rule of thumb is that you should plan on replacing your bulbs on a yearly basis. (12 months, or thereabouts).
1.5 years is maybe do-able, but I think you will notice that your tank gets suddenly a lot brighter when you swap out your bulbs. This sudden intensity could theoretically be enough to shock a few things.
CCF = "current crest factor". That's really getting into technical details of ballast design though.
AB = Aqualine-Buschke (sp?) - a German brand of bulb
Son Agro = a ballast used for Sodium lamps in the 400W range, that's adaptable to use by metal halides. Overdrives lamps since technically it is 430W instead of 400W. So lights appear brighter. Technically there is no such thing as a "400W HQI" ballast but if you hear that term, they are referring to these ballasts.
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-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
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