Algae Growing On Plants

[Neo8223]

Hi all.

I was wandering if anyone could advise me on what to do. I have an algae problem in my tank, its growing on the glass and on plants. heres some info that may help you determine what i'm doing wrong.

Tank size 12*8*8 inches (its my small tank for my room)
Light is a sunglow 8watt tube 14" i believe. this is on for about 16 hours a day
Nitrites and ammonium levels are at 0 and do a water change every week.
I recently stopped pumping in CO2 to my tank when the algae problems first started. (it was a home made kit with a diffuser at the end)
I also stopped putting in plant fertalizer just after the start of the problem.
Densely planted tank (40% of the tank has plants in it as this is the only source of oxygen for the fish)
I have a WAY overstocked tank, although the fish are happy and the conditions are able to support them. I havn't had a death in about 6 months (excluding one i put in the tank that had been bullied by my angels in another tank that was on its way out anyhow)
Temperature is always at 27 Celcuis.
Simple internal rena filter. Cleaned every 3 weeks. (its un-necessary to do it any sooner)

I just read in one of the sticky topics that i should actually be pumping in CO2 and fertalizer for the plants to grow better and help them kill the algae. Should i impliment these actions again?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Paul

I have 2 baby plecos about 1 inch each that are in the fight against algae as well.

 

[Liam]

The lights are on 16 hours a day, cut it back to eight or ten, the plants dont use that long a photoperiod, yeah anything that helps the plants grow better and outcompete the algae helps too

 

[sophos9]

If the algae on the leaves is too much, it may be worth pruning them off as well as sorting the source of the problem....

 

[Neo8223]

aah i see. Thanks for both replies.

I've put back on tghe CO2 and addd some plant feed. For some reason, it almost killed my brisslenosed plecos and my baby pakistani loach

I just moved them to my big main tank and the baby pakistani loach just found the colony of adult pakistani loaches and it seems extremely happy. I've officially re-homed it to that tank, as it didnt seem happy in the other tank, compared to this tank! its LOVING IT!!!

The plecos are being bullied by my angels so when my tank settles down, in 2 days they will be moved back into the tank. There are other plecos in the tank, but they wouldnt form a colony at all! They are also like 10 inches long as opposed to my 1 inch ones.

They perked up about 10 mins after i put them in the tank. Has anyone else had this problem?

My guppies were fine and un-effected. (tough lil cookies)