# too much lighting?!?



## sedatedgenius (Apr 30, 2006)

id ont know if this is going to come off as a silly questoin, but is there a such thing as too much lighting for a freshwater tank?

i know the more WPG (which is a loose rule as it is) for a saltwater tank is much more beneficial than a lower rating, but i was curious if you had too much lighting in a freshwater tank, could it be bad for your plants?  

i know that sounds silly from a photsynthetic standpoint, but im just not sure, since this 20Gal Long will be my first foray into the art of planted aquariums!  

im excited! 

edit, i was planning on doing a 65x2 coralife hood for my 20gL


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## toofazt (Aug 9, 2005)

If you have too much light you will most likely battle algae issues. 2 x 65W is a lot over a 20G. Are you going to be dosing ferts and inject CO2? You might want to put the light on a timer and have one 65W light on for the first 2.5hr both on the next 2.5hr then one on the last 2.5hr


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

Generally speaking... the more light you put over a tank the less room you have for error. IMO that is way to much lighting for just getting started out.... to much for plants, NO im not sure that there is a certin level of lighting that will harm them since I dont think any type or watt amount could really ever compare to the intensity of the sun.

But back to that fine line I was speaking of, the more light you have you really need to be on top of the game, and have pretty much perfect doseing, and CO2 levels... other wise its going to be a battle with algae the whole way. If it were me I would re-consider that lighting and probably only go with 1 65 watt.... that is MORE than enough to grow any plants, even light hungry.... and with CO2 which will be all but nessacary with that light they will grow very quickly also.


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## magicmagni (Aug 19, 2004)

Yeah that's quite a bit of light. I've done up to 4.5 WPG and it was a lot of work. Just a lot of trimming and constant tracking down of nutrient deficiencies. I'm down to 2wpg to 3wpg on my newer tank now ( stagger my ligting so full intensity is only for a few hours a day) and I like it a lot better. I can still grow what I want, but it grows slower so it stays looking good for longer and grows out of place slowly.

If you can raise the fixture to diffuse some of the light. ESU makes a hanger kit for most of these lights that allows you to suspend it over the tank. Now if you do decide to keep it as is it is posssible to do a tank with this much light. You can try it out and see what happens. Just make sure you have the Pressurized Co2 and bulk macro ferts from Greg Watson and lots of micros like TMG for example. Do about 5ml per 10 gallons 3 times a week and go from there. Get some good trimming scissors and planting tweezer too. You will be using them a lot to keep everyting in check.


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## yildirim (Nov 25, 2004)

IMO there is no such thing as too much lighting unless you can provide the necessary nutrients and co2. If you just provide that much light and not deal with its prequisites than it is going to be a big problem. If you cna provide all this time you will need lots of time to maintain a scape because of the incredible growth. But before choosing the lighting intensity, period, etc.. first you should decide how much is necessary.


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## Ben Belton (Mar 14, 2004)

I have 2 x 55 watts over a 20 H. I love it.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Bottom line is, if you know what you're doing, go for it, you know all the pitfalls associated with that much lighting. If you're not so sure, don't. Get experience with a more 'normal' lighting amount before you jump into that kind of lighting. It's really not necessary at all!


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## acbaldwin (Nov 3, 2005)

I've got the 2X65 coralife over my 20G. It rocks! I'm not even doing DIY CO2 at the moment, and I have NO ALGAE. Well, except for GSA, but nerites and proper PO4 keep that at bay. I dose a little over the standard recommended EI dosing, with about twice the recommended PO4. CO2 is a huge limiting factor on the plants at the moment, but excel is helping to make up a tiny tiny bit of that problem. The worst thing about the high light is the temperature!
Like others said, if you're gonna do lighting that high, just realize you could be walking a very fine line. My results are not typical at all.


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## JKCoyne (May 1, 2006)

Within the 2-4 WPG range, is there a specific value (say, 2.5 or 3) to which one should try getting as close as possible? Or is it a case where any value within the range is equally suitable? 

-- J.K.


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## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

There is to much variation between lamp styles(t12, t8, t5, power compact, High Output versions, Metal halide...) phosphors used in lamps affecting which spectrums of light put out which are more or less useable by plants, distance from lightsource, light covers clean/dirty, no light covers, parabolic reflectors made with 95% reflective material vs no reflectors... 

to say that a particular wpg is what you should shoot for. 

t12 lights, no reflectors, dirty glass tank cover.... sure shoot for 4 wpg

t5 pendant with parabolic reflectors hung over open top tank... 2 wpg would probably get you more than the above scenario. 

Assumeing that plant usefull spectrums are put out by the lights in both cases. Haveing cool whites or actinics in iether would detract from the plant growing ability


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## jlui83 (Apr 22, 2006)

Becareful with algea if you have TOO much lighting.


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