In article ,
"tinman" wrote:

I've got a 30 gallon tank that i plan on turning into my second plant tank.
My question is, how much is too much light? My current plant tank is 29
gallons, and has approx. 93 watts of light, roughly 3 watts per gallon. For
my 30 gallon i could either put a 96 watt or a 192 watt fixture on it.
Would 192 watts be too much? Advice appreciated. Thanks

-Justin

Go with the 96, IMHO. Seems to me that 192 watts would be enough to
overheat the tank. and even at 96 watts you'll probably have to deal
with algae pretty bad.

Question, is this a tall or long tank? If it's a long tank, keep in mind
that the light will be more "intense" than in your 29, even with the
same wattage. Thus, 192 may again be overkill.

And another: how do you plan to deal with algae? Esp. if you do go ahead
and do 192W, you'll need to look into heavy-duty CO2 _and_ a good
algae-eating team.

All of this is of course based on my limited experience (much of it
"oops"es)...ymmv

Regards,
jesse joe