IS there such a thing as to much light

1382 Views 18 Replies 11 Participants Last post by yetti82, Jan 15, 2011

yetti82

Discussion Starter · Jan 9, 2011

Question #1) I am pulling my 14G BioCube out of storage to make it into a planted tank and I added up the lighting and I have almost 6 watts per gallon. Is this to much light or will I be ok?

Question #2) With that much lighting will I be restricted to growing high-light plants or will I be ok with some low-light and low-med light plants?

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

rickztahone

· #2 · Jan 9, 2011

wpg is not a very accurate gauge for light anymore. What type of light is it?

There is definitely a thing as too much light and algae will be the main consequence of that excess light.

yetti82

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 9, 2011

Three 24 Watt Daylight 10K Lamp (T5 lighting I beleive)

rickztahone

· #4 · Jan 9, 2011

yetti82 said:
Three 24 Watt Daylight 10K Lamp (T5 lighting I beleive)

NO or HO?

yetti82

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 9, 2011

not entirely sure....Right now it has the following,

two of:
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...A54330&child=OA54330&tab=0&color=Daylight 10K

and one of:
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewi...campaign=mdcsegooglebase2&utm_content=OA54332

OverStocked

· #6 · Jan 9, 2011

Yes. There is such a thing as too much light. This is it.

This is more like 5wpg, but wpg should be abandoned. ON a 14g tank, this much light is begging for a TON of algae.

MEDIUM light is better than high, almost always. Super high light makes it so that you have no buffer space in where to keep co2 and fert levels.

yetti82

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jan 9, 2011

so should I even attempt the CO2 setup on this setup? Or should I just remove a light?, and If I decide to keep the lighting the same and add the co2 at a bub to 2 bubs a second then what precations or critters can I purchase that will keep them in check?

Darkblade48

· #8 · Jan 10, 2011

I would just remove a light.

With such high lighting, as over_stocked mentioned, you will have to keep fertilizers and CO2 pushed right up to the maximum.

accordztech

· #9 · Jan 10, 2011

Can you disconnect one or 2

Diana

· #10 · Jan 10, 2011

Or lift the fixture up above the tank.

captain_bu

· #11 · Jan 10, 2011

You can have so much light that it makes it impossible to keep CO2 levels high enough without killing your livestock. If there is no livestock in the tank you could conceivably use tons of light and CO2 but what is the point unless you like trimming and cleaning the tank constantly.

BiscuitSlayer

· #12 · Jan 11, 2011

Ill bet the light would be ok. Pressurized CO2 would be a must though. Probably should have a short photo period as well.

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snausage

· #13 · Jan 12, 2011

With pressurized co2, ferts, high light loving plants, and indestructible fauna, IME it's almost impossible to provide too much light. The lighting chart sticky on this website is not applicable IMO; check out the aga competition tanks, most have massive amounts of light, zero algae and the healthiest looking plants I've seen. And I also doubt they raise them 20" above the top of the tank.

essabee

· #14 · Jan 12, 2011

The only advantage that I found with very strong light (I have used direct sunlight too); is the colouration of certain plants and the shrubby shape in some.

The requirement of nutrients, CO2 and trimming becomes tedious. Algae does not become an issue but the constant work to keep your tank from becoming a jungle does.

OverStocked

· #15 · Jan 12, 2011

snausage said:
With pressurized co2, ferts, high light loving plants, and indestructible fauna, IME it's almost impossible to provide too much light. The lighting chart sticky on this website is not applicable IMO; check out the aga competition tanks, most have massive amounts of light, zero algae and the healthiest looking plants I've seen. And I also doubt they raise them 20" above the top of the tank.

I STRONGLY disagree with this statement. Light is a driving factor that when TOO high means your co2 has to be poisonously high, ferts have to be very high, and algae is almost impossible to keep at bay.

The Tanks you see in the AGA competition are rarely set up long term, are very finely tuned, and do not run all of the light you see all the time. ALmost all of the tanks you see have suspended fixtures.

There is NO good reason to have super high light when you can achieve better results with medium to medium-high light.

snausage

· #16 · Jan 12, 2011

over_stocked said:
I STRONGLY disagree with this statement. Light is a driving factor that when TOO high means your co2 has to be poisonously high, ferts have to be very high, and algae is almost impossible to keep at bay.

The Tanks you see in the AGA competition are rarely set up long term, are very finely tuned, and do not run all of the light you see all the time. ALmost all of the tanks you see have suspended fixtures.

There is NO good reason to have super high light when you can achieve better results with medium to medium-high light.

I'm not denying that they have suspended fixtures, all I'm saying is that they would never raise them as high as the lighting sticky would advise relative to the strength on the light. Furthermore, I question your knowledge of the high light aga tanks. Do you know these people or have you contacted them directly regarding their lighting?

I have 4x24w t5 ho's running directly on top of a 24g high tank with ferts, co2, etc. co2 is at 3 bps and I dose way less than ei people do. Zero algae, ottos and cardinal tetras are alive and healthy and the plants are doing great.

I think a lot of people underrate how difficult it is to grow lots of high light plants in a small space. And a lot of the people who are concerned with too much light don't seem to grow very difficult plants. If you're just doing crypts, anubias etc, lots of light is obviously a waste, but try growing syngonanthus, tonias, erios, and high light rotalas in medium or medium-high lighting.

I think high light is going to be the next phosphate in the planted tank community. Lighting doesn't seem to be properly understood and PAR values are all relative to the plants and the make/model of the bulbs you're using, so it's misleading to provide information based off one person's measures of PAR values.

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Hoppy

· #17 · Jan 12, 2011

If you are knowledgeable, willing to follow a strict maintenance routine, enjoy doing lots of pruning, and are willing to do it, have a good CO2 system, well adjusted, you can run very high light successfully. For at least some of us, that makes a hobby become hard work, so we prefer the more leisurely pace of growth in a lower light tank, where small mistakes can be corrected "next weekend" instead of having to drop everything and quickly get things back in order. People grow virtually all of the desirable plants with lower light, and they still look very good. So, why not keep this an enjoyable hobby, where people don't get discouraged and quit? Isn't it better to have a very high probability of having a successful tank to reward you for your efforts?

There is plenty of room in the hobby for people who like either approach.

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snausage

· #18 · Jan 12, 2011

Hoppy said:
If you are knowledgeable, willing to follow a strict maintenance routine, enjoy doing lots of pruning, and are willing to do it, have a good CO2 system, well adjusted, you can run very high light successfully. For at least some of us, that makes a hobby become hard work, so we prefer the more leisurely pace of growth in a lower light tank, where small mistakes can be corrected "next weekend" instead of having to drop everything and quickly get things back in order. People grow virtually all of the desirable plants with lower light, and they still look very good. So, why not keep this an enjoyable hobby, where people don't get discouraged and quit? Isn't it better to have a very high probability of having a successful tank to reward you for your efforts?

There is plenty of room in the hobby for people who like either approach.

Thank you!!!!

yetti82

Discussion Starter · #19 · Jan 15, 2011

I must say Hoppy that it is a pleasure to have your posting on my thread. I read through your sticky and I must say I really enjoyed it. I have one concern and that is when I installed the additional lighting kit that the way it is wired up I can run one light with no reflector or two with reflector. So should I find the happy medium and adjust the hood up to 5 or 6 inches from the water and run the two or leave it at the 3 inches it's at now and run the one light?

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

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