was I just ripped off by a crafty plant salesman??

pritch33

If the algae is being caused fom excess light from the window try putting a background on the tank
If you are going for a planted tank a plain black or blue looks quite good and this will stop the excess light from reaching the tank
not sure what plants you have available but i would reccomend a Wisteria aka Hygrophila difformis (google) fast growing and good to take up excess nutriens can plant or just let a little float on top although it will send down a few roots
as for the mystery snails a good choice and can easly be controled by removing the eggs as mentioned
A good read on algae with pics can be found here although a bit long but also has some good pics
http://www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/

Ray

redchigh

I agree, Rotala and Hygrophilas seem to put out root systems quickly so they are less likely to require 'replanting'.

Anarchis never makes roots, or so it seems.