Lighting for Indoor Pond

[PondintheCity]

I have an indoor pond that is lit with a pair of Kessill a160 Tuna Sun light fixtures, which are designed for planted and/or marine aquariums. The fixtures are suspended about 9 inches above the surface of the water. I decided to try my hand with a dwarf tropical water lily (Murasaki Shikibu) this spring, and I placed it directly under one of the fixtures. It started off very well, throwing a few flowers in the first week and a couple of new pads every day. It's been about 5 weeks now and I've noticed that the flowers are growing up out of the water and wilting back down before they open. Also, all the pads have formed a ring about 8 inches from the center of the plant with no leaves in the middle. I have no idea whether lilies normally add leaves from the outside of the normal spread and fill in, but coupled with the wilting flowers, I'm wondering if the light is too intense, causing the wilting flowers and making the leaves migrate outside the too-bright center. Any insights would be helpful....

 

[Stephen Noble]

Welcome @PondintheCity! I too have an indoor pond but probably different than yours. Mine is a turtle pond. Let's gather some information about your pond to help us help you. How big is the pond, dimensions & gallons? Indoors as in a basement or sunroom? What else is in the pond with the plants? Filtration type? Does the pond get window lighting too? Do you fertilize the plants? What are the plants planted in? Finally, could you please post an image of the pond?