Is MH lighting overkill?

[Neptune 555]

I have a 4-foot FRESHWATER planted tank. My lights for this tank just died. I have a left over T5/MH light fixture from my last reef - I just upgraded to a 6 foot reef. What would happen if I put this old light new bulbs on top of a freshwater tank? I could limit the MH lighting for only a few hours of the day. The light also has 4 T5's. This would grow some wicked plants right?

trying not to spend a fortune on this freshwater tank as mentioned above I did just buy a 6 foot reef!

advice and recommendations on inexpensive lights for planted freshwater thank you!

Neptune

 

[alton]

Run your t5’s for eight and MH for three hours. I did this in the summer when I had mh on my saltwater tank, coral did fine

 

[jda]

It depends. It will work well if you get some warmer bulbs. Some freshwater plants are more demanding than most coral, but the vast majority are quite easy and will do well with whatever you choose here.

 

[mtraylor]

Since the light is left over from your reef. You will need to change out the bulbs to more of an 6500K bulb for the plants. The blue light say 15 to 20k bulb is good for the fish color in your fresh water, but not for the plants so much. Should be fine.