Regular Member Cynders Posted November 27, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 27, 2010 The brown keeps coming back so I think I have less than stellar lighting. I'm thinking of going up to 55-60 watt lighting? My current lighting now is only 30 watts for a 55 gallon. (Lights are 15 watt 18" lights). What lighting do you guys have? I don't want an algae bloom though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member blackteles Posted November 27, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 27, 2010 Hmmm...Tay I have minimal algae growth in my tanks. My tropical tank has the most and with a weekly scrub I can control it. I'm using lights anywhere from 15W-20W but only keep them on for 10-12 hours when I'm home. Obviously when I'm away for the week they get natural daylight. Possibly upping the wattage and brightness may add to the problem? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Hidr Posted November 27, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 27, 2010 If you plan to try and grow any live plants then a 55 60 watt light (if you can find that) woudl be great. But just to look at your fish less light is just fine you well still have green stuff even with more lighting. I have two 15 watt lights. I just keep the front of my tank clean and leave the rest. Sometimes I have brown stuff sometimes green it dont matter to me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member number20121 Posted November 27, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 27, 2010 My 55 gallon tank has two 15 watt lights and I don't have any brown algae in it, instead I got dark green algae growing on the driftwood and some of the river rocks. And of course everywhere else but Sucky Fishie already took care of that. Interestingly I have brown algae in the tropical tank that has 22 watt in 20 gallons light. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Cynders Posted November 27, 2010 Author Regular Member Share Posted November 27, 2010 Maybe there's something in the water. But the brown is super frustrating. My dad has 2 15 watt lights downstairs and he has the dark green, but then again his tank is in front of a window. Mine is on the side of the wall next to a window so no light but tank light gets in. I'll see what I can do though. Lights aren't too bad a price nowadays. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member number20121 Posted November 27, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 27, 2010 Ah, that might be the difference. My tank is on the opposite wall to the window, facing the window. And there is another window about 5 feet to the right of that window, and another one on the adjacent wall. So quite a lot of natural light. Then again, this still doesn't explain the brown algae in my 20g tank. Brown algae sucks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Captain Findus Goldfish Posted November 27, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 27, 2010 I just started getting a brown algae outbreak in the 85Gal! Grrrr! It took quite a long time to appear. Maybe in one year I will get green one! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Katie Posted December 10, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2010 What does everyone use to scrub it off? Can you buy special brushes? I have a little bit and don't want it on the front of my tank. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Quasi Posted December 10, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2010 What does everyone use to scrub it off? Can you buy special brushes? I have a little bit and don't want it on the front of my tank. On the front I use one of those magnetic float algae scrubbers. The back and bottom of the tank is cleaned by my fish. They graze on it. They even clean it of the plants 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member johann_pond Posted December 10, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted December 10, 2010 What does everyone use to scrub it off? Can you buy special brushes? I have a little bit and don't want it on the front of my tank. I use the mag float to scrub most of it. At times there is some the float won't clean so I purchased a plastic scraper. It's a paint scraper looks like the metal ones but is all plastic including the blades. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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