Well thats great news Steve, glad you are on the mend.
I still say its the stems that did the trick. You very rarely see a tank loaded with stems get algae. It seems its always a tank with a slight imbalance in ferts and no stems gobbling them up that get whacked.
If only plants could talk...
Heh, if you are the patient type and want to test the theory you could always yank the stems again leaving the same flow/ filter adjustments but I fear it would rear its ugly head again.