Welcome to APC! It is always a good idea to remove dead and dieing leaves as soon as you can. Those are the leaves that attract algae infestations. The most effective means of avoiding algae is to have lots of healthy, growing plants in the tank, with none of them being stunted from lack of some nutrients. Plants need nitrates to grow, so having zero nitrates can be a problem. You can feed the fish a bit more generously to get more nitrates from surplus food breaking down in the tank, or you could dose some nitrates (stump remover is usually nothing but potassium nitrate, so that is one easy way to get some.)
According to what I found with Google, you probably have about 30-35 PAR light intensity, so that is good for the type of set up you are trying for.
According to what I found with Google, you probably have about 30-35 PAR light intensity, so that is good for the type of set up you are trying for.