I've taken the canopy off of the shop aquarium as it seems to get a more generous amount of natural sunlight this way. I must admit that there is something very appealing about this kind of light in an aquarium.

It goes against all of the traditional advice, but it seems to work! I have not had an algae break out in this tank, the glass is clean, the plants are not covered in algae, and the filter is running at barely a trickle. I have not had to scrape the glass clean for as long as I can remember. The only algae issue that I have are these clumps of thread algae but they come out really easy, you just grab them and lift.