[Beverly]

Matt,

Algae on the glass can be removed by several means. A magnetic remover, the blue scouring pad method (make sure you buy it at a lfs meant for glass), or a credit card.

Also, scrape off the algae the morning of your water change, then clean the living heck out of your foams, or whatever you have in your mechanical filter, in outgoing changewater. Cleaning the algae off the glass, then leaving it in the tank will just get you more algae. Cleaning your filter is the most important step on your weekly water change day, imo.