Toooo Much light - too bright??

[Shawna]

I bought two of those compact fluorescent bulbs to put over my 20 gal betta tank, but they seem almost too bright - not to look at - the fish look great - but Im just concerned that it might be too bright for the fish. Is there such a thing as the lighting being too bright?? I mean - its not like they have eyelids or anything.

 

[Shawna]

OOoops - forgot to mention they were 15W compact fluorescent bulbs.

 

[happychem]

Are these the twisty, screw in types?

Anyway, shouldn't be a problem, but you can always add some floating plants like Salvinia to provide some shade.

 

[Shawna]

That would be the ones.

 

[happychem]

No problem. It's probably more light than you need if your tank is fish-only, but it's enough to support shade-tolerant plants and definitely not too much for your fish.

 

[svtcontour]

I for one think it probably might be way too bright. In every tank I've ever had, I've noticed the fish tend to like more subdued light. They are more comfortable that way. Even in the wild, the water is never super bright like in an aquarium.

My 100 Gallon has a single 48" strip suspended about 16" above the water. I've got plenty of silk plants and cover. My 75 has two 12" wide pendulums hung above the tank and each of those has a standard compact flourescent 21W bulb and its also got plenty of cover.

Basically I think the fish are getting no more light than we would get in the house so if I'm comfortable, the fish are comfortable. If I cant have a super bright light above me without bothering me, then I will assume my fish are the same

 

[happychem]

Even in the wild, the water is never super bright like in an aquarium.

Many waters receive much more light than our aquariums. This is why standard light strips are insufficient for plant growth in the aquarium, the sun delivers much more light than a fluorecent bulb.

 

[Swimfins]

Think of being on open water on a hot sunny day.
It just looks bright to us because or houses are very dark, compared to an open grassy field on a sunny day. We are the ones who live in darkness unless your a deep water fish.

 

[svtcontour]

Sorry I still cannot agree. If you go into any pond, river, lake - heck look at the amazon river for example.... you'll see the water is not clear like what comes out of a tap. Its far more murky with suspended debris. If you stick your head under the water and open your eyes, I guarantee you wont see more than 20 feet in front of you.

Also I think most plants tend to grow in the shallow areas and not anywhere semi deep... I dont now. I'm think of any time I've ever gone camping or to any lake and stuck my head under water and looked. Cant see anything far at all and any plant life is closer to the edges that are shallow.

 

[anthonylam]

non of these are absolutes... someplaces, i agree receive more sunlight than our average tank settings... although, sometimes our tank settings might be too bright too. depends on the fish and where it's from, it's natural habitiat.
in this case, it's betta... from south east asia. mainly here in thailand and malaysia. here, u can find them in rivers, streams, drains... where there's not too much light. also, i agree with contour on the fact that the water where they live in the wild is usually murkier, with all the suspended debris n all... in fact, u find them living in waters looking really like chocolate milk or dark tea most of the time. they trive in waters like these and it really does filter most of the sunlight that gets to where they are.
so, i guess u should sorta control the levels of your lights there, shawna. i'm really quite confident they'll be more comfortable when it's not too bright.