Hey, Tom- Where did you get your Solarmeter?Wow Bee! I'm surprised this happened to you. If these are the Arcadia 12% HO tubes, they need to be at least 20 inches (50cm) away, and they are still so strong that I only run them for about 3 hours mid day. At 20" I get a UVI reading of about 7 on my Solarmeter 6.5. Mid day summer sun here is only about 7. In mid winter I'm lucky to get a reading of 2 or 3 in full mid day sun. At 7 inches away, I bet it was putting out A UVI of 20 or more... Ouch.
Live and learn. Thanks for sharing this experience. I hope others learn from your example.