hair and green algae

Common reasons for thread/ hair algae are lack of CO2 + excess lighting, or an overdose of iron. I'd cut back on fertilizing until your plants show you that they need it. Keep up on the water changes too, that'll help dilute the concentration of any ferts hanging in the water column.

As side notes: 50/50 lighting isn't exactly the best for planted tanks. That is, it's not the most effective way to get your plants the light they need - actinic or blue lights won't do anything for plants. Look for something in the 6500K range - that'll serve you much better.

And yeah, you're tank is kind of overstocked, but it may be alright for now. SAEs may take care of your problem for you, but they grow to be around 6 inches and are quite active, and I'm not sure a 29 gallon provides enough space for them to live long term. Just IMHO.

yeah, those bulbs are made for reef tanks. For your planted tank, look for a bulb of the same wattage, just in the 6500K range.

First of all, look at the type of pins your bulb has - are they four straight across like this . . . . , or are they in a square like this : : ?

In any case, you'll want a bulb like this http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=23411;category_id=1845;pcid1=1843;pcid2= , but with whatever type of pins your has, straight or square.

Wildiana said:

Bio load maybe in the high end..
5 blue rams
3 Bolivian rams
6 tiger barbs
1 dwarf guuramie (sp?)
1 african cichlid (about to move to another tank)
2 oto
3 SAE which just got this afternoon
2 apple snails
1 ram horn snail

Click to expand...

Holy crap!
Most people on here would recommend just one pair of rams in your tank... :O