Plants Vs Algae

[wildechild_01]

I have a 31 USG Tank,
Lighting 2 x 24" Lifeglow 20W flourescents
running a Fluval 205 External Filter

inhabited by 3 tiger barbs and 1 polka dot loach (more fish to be added after i move)

planted with
3 x Bacopa Caroliniana (these are the names off the tags the plants came with)
1 x Limnophila Sessiliflora
1 x Eleocharis parvula (dwarf hair grass?)
currently i am Dosing with Seachem Flourish weekly occasionaly more often if a water change is needed
most of the plants seem to be doing quite well despite a bout with brown alge which seems to be clearing now that i have the lights on more and as the tank matures the exception being the grass which does not really seem to be growing much, i have been noticing an Increase in the Green Dust Algae, its not really bad and is pretty easy to clean up but i was wondering if i should be doing something different to discourage its growth, from reading here i am thinking maybe i should be using the Flourish Excell Rather than just the Flourish for the sake of adding the Carbon to the water? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Also the Substrate will be being changed soon as i am moving and am re-doing the tank, some of the plants will be moving with the substrate into a 20 USG tank (everything will be in the 20g for 2 or 3 days during the move) and after the re-done 30g is all set up i will probably be looking into more plants, again from reading it sounds like i will need to up the nutrient dosing for a while once i switch the substrate out is that right?

Thanks Again

 

[baron von bubba]

upping the lighting period is probably not a wise thing to do while you have algae issues.
lower it again until you have the outbreaks under control.

the brown diatoms are associated with ammonia usually and common in a new set up.
manual removal (wiping clean plants, glass, rooks and wood etc) before water changes every couple of days should see this gone quickly.

adding some more fast growing stems may be an idea too, they will remove the excess ammonia from the water quicker.

the green dust algae seen on the glass can be a harder thing to get rid of.
some ppl recommend letting it run its course, around 3 wks and the algae will start peeling off the glass, scrape it off then do a large water change and hopefully it wont reoccur.

excel is an algaecide as well as a source of carbon for the plants so it would probably be a good thing to consider.

 

[wildechild_01]

ok, so the brown alge definiely seems to be making a comeback, i have not reduced the lighing yet as i have read on several sites that more light is bad for the brown alge. Unfortunately i have not had a chnce to pick up the excell yet but will do so this weekend. i have been wiping the leaves before whater changes but it keeps coming back. i consistently get ammonia readings of 0ppm but judging by the brown growth i obviously have excess ammonia from something, any ideas on how to control that? any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks,

 

[Truck]

half the lighting as Baron von bubba suggested, I've recently had a small amount of diataoms on the substrate, I dropped the photo period by 2 hours and its gone a week later.