Sigh. After doing a lot of investigating and staring at an awful lot of pictures of algae, I'm just about convinced cladophora is indeed what I'm dealing with.
This is a bit of a problem. So much so that the general advice I've been given so far consists of, "Break down the tank and start over - it'll be the only guaranteed solution, and easier than anything else you could try."
This stuff seems to be the bogeyman of planted tanks.
Yet in all the digging I've done, I have seen a few reports of people who have had success getting rid of it... a few with excel overdosing, a few with h202, one with rosey barbs (not an option for me, due to their size and aggressiveness), one with amano shrimp. For each report of success with a given method though, I can find ten others reporting that that particular method didn't work.
Being the first planted tank I've set up, I've regarded this all along as a learning experience. That being the case, I've no intention of tearing the tank down at this time. Instead, I'm going to try all of the "iffy" solutions, one at a time, and see if I can't figure out a way to beat it.
Since some of you are talking about it giving this a go, let me give a piece of advice:
Do not buy plants mail order domestically. It's fine to get them from other hobbyists, but I'm positive the introduction of the algae I'm dealing with came from plants I received from a particular vendor. Plants grown in Singapore have to receive a phytosanitary certificate to enter the country - which means no snails, no snail eggs, no algae. Of the singapore growers,
www.aquaspotworld.com is probably the overall best.
To start the course of treatment, for the next week or so I'll attempt spot treatments with excel at twice the recommended dosage. If that doesn't work I'll give H202 a shot after that.
