is there a dip to remove algae from larger plants ?

Question
We have a 30 Gal. freshwater tank with about two dozen small fish and a wide assortment of aquatic plants. We run one 20 watt, 24 in. bulb 14 hrs. a day. The tank has been up and running for about three months now and got it's first water change recently. There has not been a lot of algae on the sides of the tank and in general the tank is in good balance. Recently we've started to have a problem with algae growing on our larger plants. In the past, with other aquariums, I've resorted to manually washing the leaves. But that's not very effective and a pain in the ass.
Do they make any sort of dip that would help ?
Or is it just an issue of water changes and less lighting ? Basically taking better care of water chemistry ?

Answer
Well first off i was shocked with the amount of fish your keeping that's surely alot of fish, avg each fish 2 inches and general rule is 1" per gallon, you'v gone way over... but that wasnt your questions.

First off depending on what type of plants you have your lighting is inadaquete, you should be shooting around 2.4 wpg (watts per gallon) with a compac flourescent lighting at 6700K which is perfect for most plants, running it at 14 hours a day is fine, but if algae is persistant drop it down to 10-12 hours a day.

And when you have plants, they need at least a water change every week, you cannot run an aquarium without doing water changes every week, your fish live in there own waste, your plants dont get nutrients they need from the fresh water, algae is outcompeting the plants for nurtients. Sometimes with new aquariums algae wont appear until a few months which seems to have happened in your case. Are they real plants or are they fake plants..... if they are real then there's not really a dip you can do.. you can do a bleach solution to wash them in but i'd try to fix this problem at the source which is the algae. You definately got to take better care of water chemistry that's where you underlying problem is.

I'd try to less the light level to 11 hours a day to start, dose fertilizers with trace ferts (found in your LFS) and read up about algae and lighting. A great forum i use and referance is fishforums.net.

you should read the following if your going to grow plants, its VERY informative.

http://www.fishforums.net/Basic-Guide-to-Lighting-t96754.html
http://www.fishforums.net/Jamescand39s-Estimative-Index-Article-t104737.html
http://www.fishforums.net/Algae-in-the-Planted-Aquarium-t106371.html

They are guides to lighting, algae, and fertilizers. If you can have a blanaced aquarium algae should be non existant but it can take a long time to learn how to balance correctly. This is a hobby that takes patience and it takes screwing up a bit to learn how to correct it. I think your off to a good start you just need to read a bit more. :)

If you need further help i'm always here