Cleaning sugar sand?

[salty jeff]

I have two questions for this board. My tank has been set up for about 9 months and I'm starting to get the green algae stage. Its starting to grow on my sand and I have to vaccum every 3 days to keep it clean. I keep my lights on for 11-12 hours a day.
My questions are:
When I vaccum I take a little sugar sand with it and I was wondering if I can add more. I'm thinking this might help slow down this algae stage and also add more sand to my tank?
Are my lights on to long during the day?
Is their a better way to keep my sand clean or to clean it?
Maybe I need a larger clean-up crew?
Thanks for the help!

 

[salty jeff]

Everything else in the tank is doing excellent so I quess the lighting couldn't be the reason.
I heard that over time the green algae with disappear.

 

[zafirablanca]

Maybe time to change the bulbs?? I know that the light quality decreases exponentially over time. Just my experience with plants and fungal cultures talking here (former plant pathologist). Perhaps the spectrum is slowly shifting as the bulbs age, and your good aquarium stuff is adapting. The only difference you may notice might be the 'bad' stuff finding a niche now. Just a thought.
-Christine