Plaqued By Brown Diatoms. Advice Please.

Well the title says it all really, this stuff is driving me nuts, it's ugly and also covers my plants in the stuff which can't be helping their growth. It knocks off the plants easily enough but then the water ends up full of tiny particles which can't be great for the fish. Within a day of cleaning the tank and hoovering up as much of the stuff as I can it's back. My tank's been set up since December and I really thought it would have resolved itself by now as I know it affects new aquariums.

I've been giving conflicting advice form my lfs: use API CO2 booster, on the basis the plants will out compete the algae and yesterday I got told to try a phosphate remover.

I have a minor issue with green hair algae but I really do mean minor; a few strands here and there on the odd plant which is very easy to remove.

I have a white sand covering John Innes seed compost. morpani wood,  azalea roots and 2 pieces of granite with pebbles of varying sizes here and there as aquarium decor and my tank is quite densely planted.

Water parameters in that tank: 0 ammonia and nitrite, 20-40 Nitrates, pH 8.2 and I have very hard water.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks for the link Simon. The nerites keep the glass, heater, filter and aquarium decor clean its just the stuff settling on the plants and substrate that is a bugbear. The guy at my LFS knows what water supplier I have as we share the same one, so maybe the phosphate remover will work, I'll try it when I clean the tank this weekend.

I have a huge amount plants growing in an arc shaped along the sides and back 2/3rds of the tank, this is my current plant list:
Anubias (nana and another much taller growing one with elongated heart-shaped leaves, yep I lost the label  )
Rotala indica
Hygrophila polysperma
Echinodorus harbii x4 different green and red.
Echinodorus harbii
Bacopa amplexicaulis
Myriophyllum tuberculatum
Cryptocoryne ( mixed red and green in 1 big clump)
Vallisneria giganthea rubra (yet to turn red, it needs more iron I think)
Vallisneria americana
Alternanthera cardinalis ( 2 clumps)
Ludwigia (various)
Lobelia cardinali
Limonphila Heterophylla as filler plant
Java moss
java ferns
I've got this lovely broadleaved  plant which I lost the label for, its formed a kind of bush which I've pruned back once since I planted.
Amazonian frogbit (sitting in a floating plastic ring attached to tank wall)
I'm sure I've missed a few out. I love gardening of any type 

I use root tabs for most of them plus the CO2 booster for the last few weeks.. My lights which are 36in T8 25mm 30W Power-glo and Aqua-glo came with the tank and are on for 10 hrs a day on a timer switch.

What phosphate remover are you using? I'd like to keep an eye out in case I need some in future.

ROWA phos

Thank you Fiona.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rowa-RW250-Rowaphos-250ml-packet/dp/B002NPZY4C/ref=sr_1_3

Addded to my shopping basket for if and when ...

I hope your son decides to give it a try, I'll be interested to hear how successful it is.

Fiona,
How is the tank after a month?

Is the 200 litre the one labelled as tank 3 in your signature?

Possibilities -
In tank 1 you have otos. In tanks 2 and 4 you have endlers and nerites. In tank 5 you have shrimps. While in tank 3 you do not have any algae eating creatures.

I''ve always understood that three things need to be in balance - light, nutrients and CO₂. It could be that in the 200 litre, something is out of balance while the other tanks are all in balance.

There are some very small nerites available, I got some from Maidenhead Aquatics. Or, dare I say it, pond snails?