the four foot tank i setup about a month ago has got some nasty green algae covering everything, anyone have some suggestions about what i can do???

Less light (shorter duration, not fewer tubes) and more plants would be the long-term solution. Try keeping the lights off for a few days to knock it back a bit (any plants won't care).

You could also check for excessive phosphate levels, but I've never done that (and the only solution is to feed less and remove the phosphates when you do water changes).

That is the conventional wisdom backed up by good scientific reasoning, but I should point out that my algae problems finally went away when I added more fish, started feeding more and did fewer water changes . :-?

Wait. as long as your not doing anything stupid it will sort itself out

get some good algae eaters!

the tank is nearing heavily planted stage, i think its more of a teething problem as the tank is still relatively new, my wife likes it cause it looks like a forest, (unlike her swamp)

it has slowed in growth, i think ill try shortening the photoperiod a little. just till its over the hump

My daughters tank had heaps of green hair alge covering everything, so I put my flying fox in there, 2 days later all gone.

Brian, if the plant growth has slowed you might also want to look at adding fertiliser. The plants generally come pre-loaded with trace elements, but if these aren't present in your aquarium then growth will start to slow down after a month or so as their internal store of trace elements runs out.

I find I don't get decent growth without fertilizer and CO2, but neither should be necessary. Light is necessary though, but only about 8 hours a day. Of course if you shorten the lighting cycle, you then have to try and synchronise the shorter hours with when you are home to enjoy it.

Check your phosphate level (buy a test kit). You may need to use a phosphate removing resin. Most tanks using tapwater benefit greatly from phosphate removers if algae is a constant problem.

i need to see if my phosphate kit does fresh water :-?

I have a tank that sounds similar to yours at present, periocally I take rocks or pieces of wood out and put them in with a Pleco, two days later they are pristine and I put them back. I have found that the stringy type green algae although it looks not so good is great for fish health, I am going to buy some snails too though as the tank was very clean when I had them and before the Jewels ate them