That's funny Fish lady, you are going along the same lines as me,
I have had a few ideas, I will post some badly draw pictures tomorrow of a few ideas I came up with,

I have been planning and pestering onyxia now re this,
Still not sure regards substrate, but have it on good authority riverbank or marsh clay is the way to go

Yes well pointed put FL,
I was having a gas moment, sorry.

This is going to sound daft but thats good news,

You could keep things as they are and just reduce the later lighting period,

so do you think you have black hair algea ?

ist of all you need to clean any algea fron the tank/plants
if you are goig to opt for a single light period.
baby steps are req

I would go for a 6.5 hr lighting period, then each week increase by 15 mins, till you get to your 8hr period,

dose the liquid ferts & Carbon, 30 mins before lights on and dont have any airstones running or anything else which breaks the surface of the water, during the photoperiod time, as this would make the carbon usless,

using Neutro C02 its 250ltr per 5 ml so work on the basis of, 1ml per 50 ltrs so rather than 3ml you could get away with 4ml being 180ltr tank, thats what i dosed my 180ltr
but watch the fish in the tank very carefully, if you do ever overdose just put your filter outlet above the water line to get the oxygen back into the tank, and a water change.
(i speak from experiance i dosed 12ml one day) lucky i didnt loose any fish.

the reason i advise to reduce the time then increase slowly, plants can get grumpy when they get used to a certain light timings, and a massive sudden change can some times shock them, and some times refuse to grow.

so some suggest when starting a planted tank start with a 7hr photo period then as the plants grow, increase it slowly

which brand of liquid carbon do you use ?

and what time do your lights come on ?

excellent post,

i can stop pestering you now lol.

Cathy i was looking at something like that as i have a spare hob filter, but its a long process so may take some time.
trying a few diff ideas after speaking with Onyxia.
as i have a spare 70ltr tank which will be kept in a heated conservatory,
which i would love to try this with, just trying a few designs.. as its just glass top sliders and an external filter at the mo..

James, has also had a go at mixing his own rather than ei dosing.

anywho back on topic, lets see what algea we are dealing with,

OP. what is your dosing regime (have i spelt that correct)
for example how much ferts n carbon,when ? and water changes (when and how much).

I know of people using them on alternative days,

Day 1 normal,
Day2 plus,
Day3 normal,

Etc you get the idea

Siestas can work,

Without seeing the Algea you have, its difficult to find the problem to fix it,

As firearms has correctly said most algea can be contributed to fluctuating CO2 liquid carbon sometimes doesn't help sometimes,

If it is black hair algea, the only way is to remove it all from the tank manual

if i did the slate thing, it would look like the roof of a welsh cotttage,

i did the car window tint, on the back 0f my sisters 2 tanks looks good,

Aqua manic are cheaper (not much)than back to nature.