# Can plants get too much light? Emersed.



## nayr (Jan 18, 2014)

depends on the plants, but its bad for almost any plant not properly acclimated for such high light.. If the plants are not used to it then the sudden change in intensity will do quite a bit of harm, think of taking house plants outside and putting them in direct sunlight with no acclimation, they are stunted and tend to bleach, old growth tends to die.. but many plants will acclimate properly to any lighting if given proper conditions (thriving on the other hand).. the colors will vary, plants that dont like it tend lighten up and plants that love it will darken up or show off genetic colors..

and then theres algae..


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## natebuchholz (Sep 28, 2013)

nayr said:


> depends on the plants, but its bad for almost any plant not properly acclimated for such high light.. If the plants are not used to it then the sudden change in intensity will do quite a bit of harm.. but many plants will acclimate properly to any lighting if given proper conditions (thriving on the other hand).. the colors will vary, plants that dont like it tend lighten up and plants that love it will darken up or show off genetic colors.
> 
> and then theres algae..


Ha Ha there is always algae. This setup is emersed so it does not have water for algae to grow in. 

I should have been more specific. The plants include glosso, DHG Belem, HC, S. Repens, and Downoi. The ambient temp is kept at 70 degrees and the humidity is consistently 90%


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## natebuchholz (Sep 28, 2013)

bump


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## THE V (Nov 17, 2011)

PAR of direct sunlight can be as high as 400. What you are describing is 3/4 shade. Should't be any problem.


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## natebuchholz (Sep 28, 2013)

THE V said:


> PAR of direct sunlight can be as high as 400. What you are describing is 3/4 shade. Should't be any problem.


Thank you for your response. I was just concerned that all that light, without the water to buffer some intensity, would burn the plants.

Bump: If this amount of light is good for the plants, are there other factors I would need to increase to keep up with the high light to help facilitate growth?


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

PAR of sunlight is about 2000 ish, not 400. So our artificial lights are relatively insignificant. In out-door aquatic plant farms, the plants are grown under partial shade cloth; with 50% shade cloth its still about 1000 PAR at mid-day....

The points raised above are valid-its about acclimatization. According to farmers of some exotic "herbs" beyond 600-800 PAR of so, even land plants get CO2 limited. So that'd be the upper limit of what one should use in artificial lighting settings. As with standard plant needs; just provide good fertilization. However, emersed cultures don't always grow faster than submersed ones. This is because underwater, the weight of the plant's structure is supported by the water, whereas on land, the plant must carry its own weight so to say. So for certain plants, the growth rate on land may not be so significantly different from the submersed forms.

Some pics from outdoor aquatic farm:









Ludwigia Glandulosa emersed:









Anubias being preped for sale









Some sub-mersed cultures are available as well, Rotala macrandra here:









Swords:


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## natebuchholz (Sep 28, 2013)

Thank you for the information and photos  

Is there a way that I can allow my plants more co2? Leave the lid off for longer during the day?


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## nayr (Jan 18, 2014)

just a fan to keep fresh air circulated, very low speed on a timer. Unless you want to seal em off and inject an artificial atmosphere.. but then its difficult to control temps in a sealed unit, shame co2 only works with light.

in hydroponics you can flood/drain the media, which expels the old air and draws in fresh air to the roots.


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

You're welcome ~ Hmm, not enough experience with enclosed terrestrial farming to say...


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## natebuchholz (Sep 28, 2013)

Xiaozhuang said:


> You're welcome ~ Hmm, not enough experience with enclosed terrestrial farming to say...


Thank you, your honesty is appreciated.


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## chocological (Nov 13, 2012)

Some of the "hard to keep" plants do very well emersed in a plastic tub, ignored. Like HC or DHG. Just look around at some people's emersed windowsil farms.


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## BettaBettas (Aug 21, 2016)

wish I lived on that farm, Getcha free plants here!


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