# Dealing with too much light and no CO2?



## Ankit (Dec 9, 2006)

I have a 60cm ADA tank (just under 20 gallons) and a 65 watt Coralife light. That's a little more then 3WPG, which yes, I realize is quite a bit.

What I want to know is how I can effectively deal with this without CO2. Is too much light and not enough CO2 a bad thing? Is my tank going to be prone to algae because of this amount of light?

It will be a few inches above the water since this has an open top and will be on mounting legs, so the intensity shouldn't be too bad. I have some frogbits that should be here in a week or two and figured I could let those float at the top and cover a decent portion of the tank, would that help?

I would be aiming for them to cover 25% to 35% of the water surface so that the original 3WPG can maybe become an effective 2WPG, would this make sense or am I making things up?

Cheers!


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Raising the light and using floating plants are both good ways to reduce the light intensity. I don't know if that will drop it as much as you hope, but I suspect it will. Are you planning on using Excel instead of CO2? If so, you should be ok with your plan. If not, you can always keep some Excel around in case you need to use it to stop some algae.


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## Shad0w (Nov 13, 2006)

mayve you can try to use nets to cover the light.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Trust me 65 watts is not a lot on a 60cm I have 10g with 72 watts on it. Just have a constant 30 ppm of co2 and remember to give ferts. Amano usually usually uses 72-150 watts on a 60cm.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

turtlehead said:


> Trust me 65 watts is not a lot on a 60cm I have 10g with 72 watts on it. Just have a constant 30 ppm of co2 and remember to give ferts. Amano usually usually uses 72-150 watts on a 60cm.


But he doesn't want to use CO2.

I'd recommend a relatively short photoperiod, maybe 5 or 6 hours, some floating plants, raising the fixture up above the rim, and using Flourish Excel.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Ahh.. I see, sorry sorry, read too fast


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## joephys (May 9, 2006)

I have a bunch of water lettuce in my tank, and it blocks out a lot of light.


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## Ankit (Dec 9, 2006)

Just an update - My Rotala sp green isn't growing straight up and even some of my anacharis is having issues and dying.

I do have frogbit covering the surface a good bit...

Anyway, I think I will resort to dosing small amounts of Excel to make up for the lack of CO2.

*Question:* Will Java Moss have an issue growing in a tank with this much light? I have a decent amount of java moss coming in and wouldn't want to see it all die. Should I just reduce the photoperiod from 8-10 hours to maybe 5.5 hours?

*Edit:* I should say that the light is raised up 3 inches above the tank and a little more than 5 inches above the water level.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Your java moss won't die. Low light plants don't die in high light tanks. Rotala green need a lot more light.


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## Ankit (Dec 9, 2006)

turtlehead said:


> Your java moss won't die. Low light plants don't die in high light tanks. Rotala green need a lot more light.


More than 3WPG?

How should I be planting them? Maybe more closely together?

Note: I've taken a closer look and the leaves and everything actually look healthy... then I realized that it must be the water flow! I have an Eheim 2232, which is about twice the filtration power than what it's being used for. Anyway, I've moved my Rotala to a corner where the water flow shouldn't be as strong... I think that's what prevented it from growing straight up.

I've also been reading around and found that some recommend planting them closer together so that the leaves have to compete for light and thus helping it become a more vertically aligned form.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

I have mine under 7.2 wpg. But your duck weed is shading.


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