Yep - a search will find you much more exhaustive info.
Basic Overview:
WATER SOURCE - do "NOT" use tap water! (biggest mistake that causes a never ending fight with it - yes, even if you chemically treat it for chlorine,etc). Better to r/o water "or" d/i water. Personally, i use a tap water purifier (d/i water) made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. Cost about $25 and makes 75 gals or so - easy to make at home.
OVERFEEDING - People love their fish too much, and try to show it thru interaction and food. For fish, feeding is usually fine only 2-3x a week - and THEN just a pinch or so. If you have a tang - put in a couple large pieces of romain lettuce or such to let em graze on for a week. Let them eat off the LR. You do them more HARM by toxifying their water by overfeeding - than overfeeding their bellies.
LIGHTING - Do not extend your lighting periods TOO long - algae needs the light to grow. If you are having problems - cut the tanks exposure to light way down until you get the problem fixed - then slowly increase your lights again. I would recommend no more than 12-14hrs of blue spectrum; and 8-10hrs of white. Also, make sure your bulbs are changed as recommended (usually once a year at least) - don't wait for em to burn out - their spectrum is usually gone long before they burn out.
PHOSPHATES - you can TEST for phosphates in the water. They can be introduces thru water source, food, chemicals you add, or other additives you might use. Try not to OVER chemical your tank - and make sure products you use are as phospahte AND SILICATE free as possible.
MANUALLY REMOVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN - remove as much as you can by hand - can even use a toothbrush to lightly brush some of it off. However, you will be sending tons of it throught the tank as well - thus in dealing with an explosion of it - I would also recommend some additional water changes.
WATER CHANGES - Using ur good water source - I would do a 25-30% water chance - about once a week for a month. This ensures you have turned over most of the tank over a slow period of time. In MY opinion, 10% water changes do very little for dilution. Consider this - You have nitrate levels of 25 - a 10% water change dilutes the water 10% - reducing ur nitrate levels by 2.5 - leaving you 22.5. WOW Anything less than 20% (in MY opinion) is a waste of time and water. Again there are many opinions on water changes - but the GOAL here is helping to turnover the tank - and help control an over-algae problem.
Once all of this is done - you should have an "OVER" growth of bacteria taken care of. HOWEVER, there is still normal bacteria growth - which is also good for the tank - food and diatoms for inhabitants.
CLEANUP CREW - I would recommend a combination of snails, hermit crabs and and some larger crab to help eat/control algae off the rock BEFORE it becomes a big issue. They should help "maintain" a lower level of algae excess.
*NOTE: cleanup crew w/o first removing the problem environment "AND" fixing the source (water quality and/or overfeeding) is just sending them to their death and wasting ur money.
In MY experience, and from what i've garnered along my journey - these re the things that help the most with keeping algae from being excessive in a tank.
Good luck to you.
