Too much light?

[joey02]

I just bought a new 92gal corner bow front tank. It came with lighting buit into the hood. Its the Venezia 350. The lighting is two 39 watt T5 lights and two 9 watt T5 lights. Which is 96 watts total. I wanted to try some plants but my uaru will eat them as soon as i put the plants in. My question is, is this too much lighting for a tank with no plants?

 

[joey02]

anyone?

 

[mach_six]

I don't even turn the lights on in my tanks cause I have enough ambient light. Unless your room is very dark I don't see a need to turn the canopy on. I do turn them on once in a while so they don't get freaked out w/ having no lights at all for a long period of time.

You can always remove bulbs to see how much light is being distributed inside the tank. I just feel there's no need to waste electricity when I'm not growing plants either.

 

[cichlid2006]

i have 2x 39w T8 @4ft long on my tank and i thought it was too dull but one light had broke and now im down to one but its growing on me and my plants are still doing ok.
i think as long as your fish arent skittish with all that light then dont fix it if it aint broke.
as for plants. uaru will eat most but i have found java fern and anubias nana to be the least affected but there is still chunks missing. i give my uaru elodea densa on purpose as its cheap, grows like a weed and they love it more than anything else ive put in. this keeps them off the anubias and fern.

 

[jcardona1]

i bought a 48" dual T5 fixture for my 210g (84" long) and after a while i took out one of the bulbs because it was too much. so yeah, i think all that lighting might be overkill. just try a combination of bulbs until you reach a lighting level you like

 

[killerfish]

turn the light on and if it seems bright and the fish seem skitish or less active then change the bulb to a dimmer one if possible

 

[joey02]

I might just try some java fern and anubias nana. The uaru are not skittish, even with all the lights on, so i'll leave them all on. The lights have timers built into them, so i'll set them all for 12hours a day and I shouldn't have algae issues.

 

[cichlid2006]

I might just try some java fern and anubias nana. The uaru are not skittish, even with all the lights on, so i'll leave them all on. The lights have timers built into them, so i'll set them all for 12hours a day and I shouldn't have algae issues.

if you try elodea densa, cheap and cheerful, too they should leave the anubias and java fern alone. and you get fast growing plants to help oxygenate and use up the nitrate keeping the water of a better quality between water changes. keeps algae to a minimum too.

 

[shookONES]

I might just try some java fern and anubias nana. The uaru are not skittish, even with all the lights on, so i'll leave them all on. The lights have timers built into them, so i'll set them all for 12hours a day and I shouldn't have algae issues.

12 hours a day is overkill, even with the plants. Throttle back to 6-8 hours ideally and you'll be fine. I'd add some nutrient suckers, like Wisteria, just to aire on the side of caution.

 

[WyldFya]

I might just try some java fern and anubias nana. The uaru are not skittish, even with all the lights on, so i'll leave them all on. The lights have timers built into them, so i'll set them all for 12hours a day and I shouldn't have algae issues.

12 hours is a little on the long side. Most Anubias will be ok with your uaru.