capn_kirkl

Just out of curiosity how much light is recommended for emersed crypts and anubais, I have this fixture over my 46 bow front with two 26 watt cfl and two 13 watt cfl. Is this too much?

Attached Thumbnails

   

Klaus07

that would be a good experiment, to see what the effect of light intensity has crypt growth rate. You don't have to buy a bunch of bulbs to test it. You can raise and lower the lights and get some neutral shade cloth to go to even lower intensities.
I know many of the crypts I have are showing a bronzish cast, and my rosenervig is not showing the characteristic pattern, I suspect due to too much light.

capn_kirkl

So is less light is not always a bad thing?

I recently switched the bulbs to four 13 watt CFL, and added a largish peace lilly to the setup for some shade.

illustrator

I have several C. affinis clones (submersed) and the darkest of them grows very damaged leaves under the normal aquarium light. In the shade of a large C. usteriana it does OK. The other clones of the same species do well without "shade". It is not only dependent on the species, but also on specific clones.

Some crypts grow in full sun in nature, but many are forest plants which grow in low-light conditions.

cookymonster

yeah remember that crpyts are most if not all of the time shaded by trees or other larger plants

D9Vin

^ same goes for anubias. They're actually named for the Egyptian god of death Anubis, because they live in the darkness (shade).