Best 70W MH HQI DE bulb? Ushio, Aqualine, Catalina, ... ?

Has anyone had experiences with 70W MH HQI bulbs?

I was wondering what are the strengths and weaknesses of the bulbs made by the different manufacturers.

Is Aqua Medic's Aqualine 10,000K the best?

Is Ushio 10,000K the best?

Is Catalina 10,000K the best?

Is Catalina 20,000K the best?

Well I already know part of the answer, there is no best one for everybody. Each setup is different and we all have different preferences and there is also the issue of cost.

What I really want to know are individual's differing opinions and experiences with the specific bulbs I listed and any other 70W HQI bulbs. There's seems to be little data on the web available on the subject.

i personally havnt tried running 70 watts....

but i like the aqualine in 250watt...

CalciumOverdose, what do you like about the aqualine?

The color?

The intensity?

I just bought an Ushio 70W lamp it seems to have a slight greenish hint to it as it warms up but makes a very crisp white color. I'll have to add an additional actinic power compact lamp to get the color I want I guess.

Is the aqualine blueish or does it make a white color?

I've used Ushio's(20k and 10k) and currently use the AB Aqualine 10k in 150w de. I notice no difference between the aqualine and ushio in terms of color of the bulb or growth of corals(both do a great job).

I've never used 70w bulbs before but personally I'd recommend either the Ushio or Aqualine both in 10k.

it really depends on what ballast your using..

i found that aqualine 10 with an icecap 250 ballast, burns bright white.. but it does burn a little too yellow under my tar ballast

and its the other way around for ushio..

imo

I got my 70W Ushio (UHI-70AQ) from hellolights for $70. And am happy with it so far.

During warm up it puts out a greenish hue. The color the bulb makes after it fully warmed up on an electronic ballast is a crisp white.

My 175W Ushio to my untrained eye has the same performance characteristics, it warms up to a crisp white as well. I run that bulb from a Blueline eballast.

I think I'll buy a AquaMedic Aqualine and see how that one compares.

I was searching the web last night and found that there are some european makers of the same bulb package, I'm going to see if I can locate some of those. Tunze had a 70W HQI in a 20K, I'm going to try to find that one.

I saw on another thread that there may be problems with Catalina hqi bulbs.

I also saw that people were unhappy with Catalina PC bulbs.

For now it looks like you should go with either Ushio or Aqualine fo 70W hqi.

lol. As you point to my thread

I don't know if the catalina bulb is quality or junk. I have had a few issues in the past with AB bulbs burning out within the first week of being new. I guess its just a quality control issue.

Im not knocking the bulb as of right now, but moreso the company the sold it to me.

When I purchase my set up from PSL it appears that I should request anything but the Catalina bulbs, even at a High Cost. I think PSL uses them because they are so cheap.

I don't know if the catalina bulb is quality or junk. I have had a few issues in the past with AB bulbs burning out within the first week of being new. I guess its just a quality control issue.

To me the consumer of the product I don't care in the lightest of the yield of their process. They can have a 99% failure rate, as long as they catch that 99% of bad product and only ship to me the 1% that works. Quality control should be the seller/manufactureres problem. Me as the buyer just wants a product that does what it's advertised to. Quality should be the manufacturers problem not my problem.

I guess in my old age I'm not prepared to cut as many corners as I used to. I just don't want the headache. I'll pay a wee bit more if that reduces chances of occurance of those headaches.