# 6.5 W/Gal. - Too much?



## BJRuttenberg (Sep 25, 2005)

Is there such a thing as having too much light??? I'm running a 10 Gal. with 6.5 watts per gallon. I just added high pressure CO2 but am still concerned this may be too much light...if that is possible?

I purchased such a 65 Watt PC light on the assumption that the calculator at the bottom of this site (LINK)was an accurate representation of what I needed...

I remember hearing that the watts/gal. rule was not really applicable any more due to new lighting technology (read: Power Compacts)...


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

> I remember hearing that the watts/gal. rule was not really applicable any more due to new lighting technology (read: Power Compacts)...


 Not true, imo. Where the wpg rule falls apart are with smaller tanks (10 gal and under). Even so, 65W on a 10 is a LOT of light. For that matter, 135 on a 29 is also a lot of light. In both of these cases, you really need to stay on top of all your ferts or you will be staring at an algae farm.

I've seen those graphs before as well. I tend to place more value on my personal experiences and others shared experiences as well. For me, that is that 2.5-3wpg in tanks over 10 gallons can usually grow anything you want. It may not be as red as you would like, but you also won't be there yanking your hair out over the algae battles.

My 2 cents worth, ymmv.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

This is my 10g tank I keep at work. It has a 24" CoraLife Aqualight over it running a 55w GE 9325 bulb. The tank gets weekday dosing of 1-2ml of PPS Standard solution, 1-2ml of TMG, and 2ml of Excel. Other than that I top off the water whenever the level drops below the tank rim.

Filtration is by a small Whisper HOB filter filled with a piece of sponge. Substrate is a mix of Flourite, Turface, and coarse sand, although it really is irrelevant since none of the plants are currently rooted in the substrate.

I've performed only one 50% waterchange on it since setting it up last October, and that was in December when I moved within the office. The next water change will be in a month or so when I have to move again.

I just came back after 10 days out of the office on vacation (no one did anything to the tank while I was away) to find the Pellia and mosses gaining another 20% in volume and all the fish and shrimp happily going about their daily routine.

Fauna in the tank are 12 Ember Tetras, 2 Otos, 3 Pygmy Corys, 1 Brokenband illstream Loach, 1 Amano and an unknown number of Cherry Red shrimp, and 2 Olive Nerite snails.


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## Blazerfrs (Feb 3, 2006)

It's probably doable; but do you need it?

I'm currently growing Rotala macrandra very well in my 10 gal with only 35W of CF light. It pearls pretty aggressivly on a daily basis.
My light has a pretty terrible reflector on it too... so I'm probably not even getting the full 3.5 wpg FWIW. 

It's def. doable, as bharada has shown, just expect troubles if you're inexpereinced- things can be kinda tricky before the tank gets balanced and you get into a routine IME. 


Nice tank too btw bharada


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