Is there such thing as over cleaning?

I battled algae for probably 4 months in my 29G softie reef tank. I haves lawn,peer blend, cardinal fish, and a fire fish, with a few hermits. I fed every 2 days usually. I have a HOB skimmer for filtration, and was changing 5 gallons of water twice a week to get rid of it. My son came a month ago and the tank went a couple weeks without a clean and looked terrible. I cleaned it and it went another couple weeks, but something incredible happened. Instill have algae, but not nearly as much as I did before, and I am seeing a lot of growth in my corAls. My best guess is that I was cleaning too much.