# 2+ WPG and floating plants



## RedDelPaPa (May 18, 2005)

Hi all.

I have a question for anyone with a 2+ watt per gallon tank that stocks floating plants such as hornwort and duckweed.

Can those species mentioned handle that much light when left to float on the surface? Are they growing with healthy color, or are they bleached?

I'm just curious cause I'm looking at upgrading my lighting, but I don't want to fry my floating plants. I have 80 watts over a 75gal tank. So I'm just barely over 1 WPG.

Thanks for any input,
Red


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I've had Hornwort and other floating plants with over 3WPG and they do just fine for me.


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## RedDelPaPa (May 18, 2005)

Nice. Thanks for the reply.


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

I've never had a problem with hornwort, anacharis or duckweed at any amount of lighting low or high.


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## owengibson (Apr 21, 2005)

Just make sure there is some air circulation if the lighting heats up much


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## BigFoot (Jan 3, 2005)

I have duckweed at 3 wpg it grows like mad.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I have Red Root Floater in a 3wpg tank that grows very fast! Never had a problem with it getting "burned" by the lights. Heat, as mentioned, would be the only problem I could see from the lights. 

I have found that hornwort does tend to loose color in high light, CO2 injected tanks even though I don't let it float at the surface. It always looks healthier and greener in for me in non-CO2 situations.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Keep the lights high enough that they don't cook the plants and they will flourish. The sun is slightly more than 2 wpg and they don't fry in nature.  Red root floater only looks better and better the more light that it gets.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

grandmasterofpool said:


> The sun is slightly more than 2 wpg and they don't fry in nature.  .


Just slightly more 



grandmasterofpool said:


> Red root floater only looks better and better the more light that it gets.


It does tank on a nice reddish color on top that make the tiny flowers really pop out, but it will fill the top of your tank within a week at 3wpg


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