# Is there such a thing as "too much light?"



## freshestemo412 (Aug 19, 2016)

Ive been thinking about this for a while since Ive ordered some more 'rarer' plants. Hear me out..

Currently I have a 12 long. Lighting that is a Current Satellite LED+. Sometimes I feel its good (plants are growing, pearling, turning colors, and are happy) yet sometimes I think the light wont be strong enough for such 'high light' plants to prosper. I got this light because every 12 long I saw on this site, 7 out of 8, had it and they even said it was considered high lighting.

In the back of my mind I want to put a 36" Finnex Fugeray Planted+ (not the 24/7 model) or some kind of T5 or T5HO fixture on it. I can bend the T5's legs to elevate it a little, but with the lights I havent pulled the trigger because things are going great in my tank now. I dose, have CO2, and aquasoil so nutrients shouldnt be an issue. 

What do you think? Would it be too much light?


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

If you can dim the light, or raise it if need be,then no worries.
Hard thing for many to decrease light intensisty from 100 % to say 60 % or less, once they see what 100% look's like.
Personally been guilty many times of trying to increase what I was sure was too little light when it just wasn't needed other than me trying to drive faster growth.
Other short coming's then became more critical. CO2 mostly.
My tanks are low tech ,lower light ,with addition of carbon supplement daily and or no carbon supplement in others.


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## BigMek (Dec 6, 2016)

Honestly if your plants are happy and you aren't getting algae I wouldn't change a thing. Increasing light means higher demand for nutrients which leads to an algae bloom if not corrected.

To address your post title, in my experience there is definitely such a thing as too much light. I put a 23W CFL about 6 inches over a 10g tank and that thing grew algae like you wouldn't believe. Dropped down to a 14W and cut my day length significantly and the algae is under control again. If you're wondering, I was trying for greenwater but got hair algae instead. And that was the end of attempt #4 on my daphnia colony :/


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## PortalMasteryRy (Oct 16, 2012)

Too much light happens when you are trying to drive too much growth with your lights without the right combination of CO2 and nutrients to match. This is the easiest way to get algae farm and kill your plants.

Everyone needs to understand that light is the engine the drives growth. Without the right combination of CO2 and nutrients in the water then this just results in too much algae growth, dying plants and wasted time and money. I've seen people have way too much light and are very conservative with CO2 or get too lazy with the fertilization. Then they come here and complain about dying plants and unhealthy plants. As long as you match the CO2 and nutrients then having too much light is never an issue. 

Some plants do grow too slow that they become prone to algae like GSA but this can be prevented too by keeping your NPKs including Calcium, Magnesium and Iron at good levels to help prevent algae from forming on the leaves.


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## Amp2020 (Mar 8, 2013)

Yes there is such a thing as too much light. Using an intense led flood light with a narrow beam of light will cause the plant to turn white and die back. An inch from that beam and the plants will thrive. Easy fix is to hang the light up higher for better coverage and reduce the intensity. 

Lot of people will dispute what's too much because of algae. But if you do the research and diligent with testing and automate a dosing system. Then it's possible to have ridiculous high lighting with very fast growth and no algae but those systems will be very unstable and algae will be a constant concern. You'd also have to select plants that can tolerate the light intensity.


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## mossman77 (Aug 5, 2019)

> Some plants do grow too slow that they become prone to algae like GSA but this can be prevented too by keeping your NPKs including Calcium, Magnesium and Iron at good levels to help prevent algae from forming on the leaves.


How do you keep the NPKs in check? Is there a good test kit you can recommend?


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## d2creative (Jan 24, 2013)

I'll tell you soon enough. I'm putting three GHL Mitras over my 143g. LOL

But seriously... like stated above, with LED I've learned to hang high for better spread and less shadowing.
Higher powered lights that are adjustable are great because you can always turn them down. So I always lean towards overkill.
I'm coming from reef tanks though, where high powered lighting is the norm.


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## grizzly_a (Sep 9, 2014)

freshestemo412 said:


> Ive been thinking about this for a while since Ive ordered some more 'rarer' plants. Hear me out..
> 
> Currently I have a 12 long. Lighting that is a Current Satellite LED+. Sometimes I feel its good (plants are growing, pearling, turning colors, and are happy) yet sometimes I think the light wont be strong enough for such 'high light' plants to prosper. I got this light because every 12 long I saw on this site, 7 out of 8, had it and they even said it was considered high lighting.
> 
> ...


The Planted+ on a 12 Long would be HIGH light, and doesn't come with any dimming built-in. I would recommend LED. Unless you're going to raise the fixture above the tank, it would be better to get a dimmable model that you can dial in (Like the 24/7 in non-24/7 mode).


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## Finnex (Nov 9, 2010)

Just a friendly FYI, the Planted+ is going through an update. With the upgraded power supplies we now use, we were able to boost the original Planted+ line by an average of 15%. So ...it's going to be ALOT of light.


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