Too much water can spoil tapes (5)
I believe the answer is:
spate
'too much water can' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both quantities as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'spoil tapes' is the wordplay.
'spoil' indicates an anagram.
'tapes' is an anagram of 'SPATE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spate that I've seen before include "Fast outpouring" , "Tapes found in sudden flood" , "Deluge" , "rash" , "Suddenly got a lot" .)