Must have been _very_ many changes! But good.

About 4-5 5% changes each week. I didn't want to shock any of the fish or
plants!

Huh? You don't have to mess with the house wiring, just what's inside the
tank
hood. Try www.ahsupply.com and others for retrofit kits. You should be
able to
squeeze a pair of 13W compact fluorescent lights in place of each of those
15
watters, and you may be able to fit bigger bulbs in general, like 28 or 36
watters. Ahsupply will tell you how much hood fixture space you'll need
for each

Thanks for the link. That actually looks pretty much just like what I was
hoping to find. The other DIY links discussed setting up large flourescent
lights overheard (hence the need to tamper with wiring), or completely
building your own fixtures from scratch (= too much $$$).

First upgrade your lights, then stock some cheap, fast growing plant like
Elodea/Anacharis (which likes iron, BTW), and then when everybody is
growing well
consider stocking more expensive and finicky plants. Thekrib lists the
preferences of various plants.

I'll double-check about those plants and algae eaters. I've read a ton
of stuff at thekrib, and many of the linked pages (including mailing lists),
and books on the topic, etc., etc. I'm just trying to make sure I'm on the
right track before I embark on something so I don't end up wasting my time,
or worse, making a problem that didn't exist before. Thanks for the
suggestions,

Tony