# Too much light killing Java moss??



## Dirtdawg57 (Jul 1, 2009)

Hello,
Is there such thing as too much light for java moss? I have a 55g aquarium and I had a 40W fluorescent light for 5 months which is only .7 watts per gallon. Obviously my plants struggled. I put the Java moss up on a rock formation so it was closer to the light and it was growing, very slowly. I finally found a T5 HO 216 watt light that brought it up to 3.9 wpg. About a week after adding the light my moss is showing some patches of brown. Could the spike of wpg had anything to do with it? I can't think of anything else that has changed. Thanks!


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

With that much lighting, you are looking at dosing fertilizers as well as injecting CO2. These are necessary, since you essentially have (more than) 4 WPG (keep in mind that the WPG guideline was designed for T12 bulbs, and you are using T5HO bulbs).

The Java Moss might be nutrient deprived.


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

Yep. Without a full range of support (CO2, fertilizers etc.), that amount of light is overkill for pretty much any plant.


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## FSM (Jan 13, 2009)

Your tank is going to turn into an algae swamp without CO2


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## o snap its eric (Jan 12, 2004)

you can burn your moss, i think i've done it before.


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## Dirtdawg57 (Jul 1, 2009)

Thanks for the responses, sorry I was out of town for awhile. The weird thing is I have been dosing the recommended amount of liquid fert and have two yeast bottle generators. All my other plants are going crazy, growing faster and bigger stakes than I have ever seen before. But the Java moss is still continuing to die. I would like to by the ferts that are recommended on this site but I'm loosing hours at work and do not have the money to do it now.


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## aschaal03 (Feb 2, 2009)

with that much light, you're going to need more than yeast generated CO2 can provide. 4WPG is a huge amount of light and the plants will use up the CO2 like crazy. My 36 gallon uses 2 DIY bottles with low lighting and I still can't keep enough CO2 in there.

You could take out a bulb until you are able to afford pressurized CO2? That would take a little of the pressure off.


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## Dirtdawg57 (Jul 1, 2009)

It has 4 bulbs and I am trying only leaving 2 on so maybe that will help. Thanks for the advice.


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