Puffer, join the fun! Thanks again for the compliments guys. If any of you have any ideas that you think may improve my setup(it is far from perfect), please let me know! That is really what this "battle" is to me. Not so much a chance to be #1 as it is to see a bunch of new tanks and see what other people are doing.
As a lil update, I have changed my light pattern and it seems to be performing well. A friend had suggested that I run the lights on a 6hrs on, 1hr off, 6hrs on pattern for my daylight cycle to help finish off the algae in my tank. It appears to be working as my algae in the water(which was decreasing before) is now falling off at a more rapid rate. In addition, the nasty black stuff I have been battling on the ground is losing out to my Java moss. Since I have been playing with the tank I have had a small spike in mold in locations which were previously dry, but I am expecting that to clear up in a week or two.