# Do I have too much light?



## ivydree (27 Feb 2014)

Dear all!

I just stumbled upon this:

 

Which, as you may know is a simplification of Hoppy's chart:

 

Anyhow, I just realised I may actually be in the "too high" light bit of the chart.

I have the following:

Juwel rio 125 which is 50cm high, so that would be about 20inches
I have on top of that 4 T5HO bulbs (4* 28W = 112W)

Would you say that is too much light? Should I just use 2 bulbs instead of 4?

I'm a bit lost with all that now, always thought that more Watts per Gallons (Liters) was better... but this made me wonder...


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## tim (27 Feb 2014)

I'm finding the hobby much easier since using this chart as a rough guide to stay in the low to medium light bracket, your call though.


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## ivydree (27 Feb 2014)

Yup, I'm struggling with some plants at the moment (pix to come) and i'm tryling to see what could be wrong... I'll wait for some other input.


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## ceg4048 (27 Feb 2014)

You should try to limit the PAR to about 50 micromoles at the substrate, especially with a new setup. If you are having problems try using only one bulb until your flow/distribution and CO2 are excellent.

Cheers,


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## ivydree (27 Feb 2014)

I'll try and use 2 bulbs for about a week or so and see what's happening. I'll post pictures and more details soon.
Hopefully I'll be able to get there...


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## EnderUK (28 Feb 2014)

Having looked at the diagrams and using the light calculator here Light Calculator Seems my PAR at substrate is acutally around 120 roughly which would put it in the high light section. I must be doing something wrong as I have two iquatic 28w t5HO with a 2x28w t5 ballast, iquatic reflectors with a depth of around 16" from the hood to the substrate. Seeing as people put 4 t5 on tanks I always thought I was low light possibly low-medium.

For the last 6 months I've been running this tank as a low tech, no fert tank with only a touch of green spot alge on the glass and anubias no problems. Lights were on a timer for 8 hours.

So if Im in the high light catogroy how the hell have I aviod algea issues everyone else seems to get.


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