I have no Idea how much A mega ray bulb costs. to be honest with you I'm not sure what one is. I am willing to bet it costs mega bucks though. With an ornate nile you will find that you will need to use a bank of basking lights to create an adequate basking spot. You can currently get a 2-pack of 50watt halogen flood lamps for around $8 at wal-mart you can get 100 watters a bit cheaper and in 4 packs but they use more electricity than the 50 watters. whichever you decide as long as you get the proper basking temps. While your nile is small you can use plain old incandescent bulbs before they ban them in 4 months and those run about a dollar twenty for a four pack of whichever wattage you want.
I only casually keep monitors Gut I have bred day geckoes and chameleons for almost twenty years on a large scale with the day geckoes. Both are rumoured to require high u-v lighting. I have never used u-v bulbs with either. My success with chameleons has been so-so. I do tend to keep most of my chams outside. I keep my day geckoes both inside and outside and reproduction with them has always been off the charts inside with no u-v and decent but not as good with the outside pairs (I live in fl. btw.). I buy all my bulbs from wal-mart as long as they are of the wattage I want, the cheaper they are the better.
As for the 24 hour cycle I don't use it on most animals but aside from a higher light bill. the bulbs will actually last longer being on all the time. Turning them on and off is what kills them.

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