# Is this light fixture too strong for a 90g tropical?



## mitko1994 (Dec 12, 2012)

Here's the fixture, tell me what you think. I have a 90g tropical tank and am looking to add some new plants apart from the low light plants I have, like java fern and anubias etc.(Also if I get this light, is it possible that low my light plants will die?)

Thanks

http://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Quad-48-...488&pid=100005&prg=1125&rk=4&sd=250787007436&


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## mitko1994 (Dec 12, 2012)

or maybe one of these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/T5-Quad-48-...518?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item460b9ac2d6

http://www.ebay.com/itm/48-Aquarium...844?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2573a730fc


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

get the freshwater plant versions, since that's is the purpose of upgrading your lights. since your tank is a 90g and is almost 26" tall even with these lights you will still have problems growing carpeting plants if you ever decide to get into that.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

If you are going to use 4 bulb t5ho, you better have co2. I am not sure what that much light would do to lower light plants.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Adding that much extra light won't kill the low light plants, but it will change the way they grow. So new growth won't match the old growth. Tips very close to the surface may burn, so cutting them back would help prevent that.

Floating plants would be burned by that big a change.. so find a way to shade them or cover them part of the time, to let them get used to the stronger light over a period of 10 days to two weeks. 

It takes leaves that long to change the orientation of the light gathering cells from the wide, flat, open position they assume in low lighting, which allows the maximum amount of light to enter, to the tightly packed, vertical position they assume to cope with strong light, which greatly reduces the amount of light that can enter each cell. 

Gardeners call this process hardening off. It is why you can't put new seedlings, or indoor plants that were grown behind glass or in a greenhouse, directly into a garden in the sun. They'll burn, in some cases to death. They need this same amount of time to adapt, in a shaded area where they get reflected sun, but not direct sun. 

For your tank, if you can, cover the floaters with something that will block all the light for part of the time. Black plastic maybe ? Or, if you can get some, get some 50% shade cloth from a nursery and use that between the lights and the floaters for a couple of weeks. If you just cover them with something that blocks all the light, expose them to the new light for no more than a half hour the first day, then cover them up. Each day after that, increase the exposure time by fifteen minutes to a half hour, until you're up to the full number of hours the lights are on. Should minimize leaf burn and loss, hopefully prevent it altogether. 

If you use shade cloth, you won't have to increase the exposure every day.. you'll be able to remove it after a couple of weeks and by then the plants should have adapted, more or less. You might lose the oldest or newest leaves, but the plants will not likely be burned badly enough to kill them or really disfigure them for a long time.


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