tj9582

My 100 gallon has been sitting empty for the year since my move, and now I'm thinking of setting it up as a paludarium/riparium. I'm a little worried about the lighting in this case, though, especially since I don't feel like I ever got it quite right on my previous pure-aquatic tank.

My main concern is shade. It seems like all the surface plants and floaters are going to be blocking most of the light from reaching those underwater, which I still want to grow a lot of. How do people work around this? Should I consider adding in an underwater light to supplement?

I should also mention that I tend more towards a low-tech, Walstad-style tank. There will be no CO2 injection, so perhaps I want lower light anyway.

davemonkey

You can have relatively high light with a Walstad tank, especially if you don't have window light to supplement.

I would not risk underwater lights unless you know what you are doing with that. Instead, put the tank by a window or keep the floaters and emmersed stems trimmed/thinned enough to allow light to reach down.