I was told that to reduce the brown algae in my tank that i should have stronger lights in my tank. my tank is a 29 gallon 30 X 12 X 18. Im assuming the length of light bulb i need is the 24 inch one. the one that came with my kit is 20 watts and i cant find any bulbs that are 24 in and more than 20 watts. so how would i increase the watts????? thanks
Increasing Watts
- Thread starter livewyr25
- Start date
adding more bulbs or different type of lighting (PC or MH)
or...as a stretch...move from T12 to a lower T bulb like T8, or try overdriving what you do have....although I think these are just a waste of time...
or...as a stretch...move from T12 to a lower T bulb like T8, or try overdriving what you do have....although I think these are just a waste of time...
It sounds like you will need an entirely new fixture- when you say kit do you mean the basic tank kit?
Essentially speaking to increase wattage you will need a light fixture that holds more than one tube. Now how adding more light will reduce algae? I have no idea. I know you have a 29g tank, but what sort of filtration, fish, and plants do you have? Also how often and long do you have your lights on?
well i have a brown algae problem, not green, and from reading on the postings it says to increase the light power to reduce the brown algae. i have a emperor 280 on a community tank with clown loaches and angels. i have 3 amazon swords in the tank. i prob have hte lights on for about 12 hours a day, maybe longer. i bought a kit where it came with the hood and lighting fixture. i think there is only one slot to put a light bulb, so im guessing id need a brand new fixture.
Hmmn. My overall thoughts would be to manually remove as much of the algae as possible. Then do a 20% water change (or so) using a gravel vac to remove any old crud in your substrate. I would also bring the lighting down to about 10 hours a day. If your swords don't like it you should be able to tell and increase time again accordingly. Do you fertilize? If you do maybe you need to cut back on your amounts. What your plants don't use I'm fairly certain the algae will. More than likely your hood came with a T8 tube (1" wide) that burns in the 10000k range. Try looking in a hardware store for a T8 tube that burns in the 5500k to 6500k range. Home depot sells them in the philips brand fairly cheap.
Now if trying the inexpensive route doesn't work then you might want to consider either getting a new light fixture or adding more plants. A twin tube flourescent fixture shouldn't be overly expensive and should be able to fit in the exact same space as your current light. Moving up from there can get truly expensive. Keep in mind if you get up into the 2 watts per gallon range you will most likely also have to invest in some sort of co2 system. As for adding plants crypts are a good bet in a low light tank. The idea here is that you would use up more of the nutrients present in the water for plants thus leaving less for algae.
Now if trying the inexpensive route doesn't work then you might want to consider either getting a new light fixture or adding more plants. A twin tube flourescent fixture shouldn't be overly expensive and should be able to fit in the exact same space as your current light. Moving up from there can get truly expensive. Keep in mind if you get up into the 2 watts per gallon range you will most likely also have to invest in some sort of co2 system. As for adding plants crypts are a good bet in a low light tank. The idea here is that you would use up more of the nutrients present in the water for plants thus leaving less for algae.
I have used 3x20W and 4x20W on 29s and 30XHs. At 3x20W I don't need CO2 supplement, at 4 I definitely do. With 2x20W you are unlikely to need CO2 - that is well below 2W/gal. - and I would consider that minimum light for low-light requiring plants only, and those directly below the tubes.