Hi everyone. Great site. I've been reading and researching this sites and other sites, but I'm certainly a newbie. I won't make the same mistake I've made on other sites and I'll start off by asking only one question.

I bought equipment that I thought would be good for a planted tank, but of course found Tom's article on low tech tanks only recently.

I have a Coralife 48" 2X65 watt compact light over my 48" 55 gallon tank, which comes out to about 2.3 wpg. Is this too much light for a low-tech, no CO2 setup?

I bought this nice light for my tank based on hearing 2-3 WPG, but I was confused with all the different opinions floating around the net. So is this light too much, and what should I do to rectify the situation without abandoning the light (for a low tech setup)?

Thanks,
Andy

See this pic:



This is a 70 gallon tank with 2x 54 W T5's.

Pretty easy to take care of.

Regards,
Tom Barr

hi tom,

thanks, i can't see th pic here at work, but will check it out tonight. i assume its some way to rig my light?

happy holidays!

You can reduce the light intensity by raising the light further from the water. The disadvantage of this is that more light spills out to light up the room. I have yet to see a usable method for determining how much reduction you get by raising the light one inch, two inches, etc. With poor or no reflectors you can be pretty safe assuming the intensity is proportional to the distance between the plants and the light, but in a 20 inch deep tank, with tall plants as well as carpet plants, I don't see a way to use that method.