You've got new tank syndrome. Crank up the CO2. Get a 10ml syringe and fill with hydrogen peroxide. inject hydrogen peroxide as close to the infected areas as possible. Do this every day if needed. This will be a continuous battle until your tank establishes.
Thanks BioChem, I'll try that.
http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q381/bnz0429/EB9A7609-22CB-4F02-BB81-ACB5FA96665D_zpstxxicz8u.jpg
Since I last posted, the algae has definitely gotten worse. I've started doing small water changes almost every other day with airline tubing to suck out the worst parts. Unfortunately, I think removing water is giving me nutrient deficiencies because I've started seeing tiny spots of Green Brush and Black Beard algae on the parts of the driftwood closest to the light (I anticipated those areas being an issue because there are no plants to shade them and the PAR is extremely high right there).
At a first glance, the tank looks great. You all would think I was crazy for complaining about all this algae if I posted a FTS right now. But looking closely at the plants you see tons of that stringy stuff in between them.
I ordered some Excel, and I just got an email saying it was delivered to my apartment
I've also decreased the photoperiod by an hour, so it's down to 6, but the CO2 time on is the same (Comes on about 2 hrs before lights and goes off 1 hr before lights).
My missing amano showed up, alive and well, so when I was at the LFS yesterday and saw they had a ton of HUGE amanos, I picked up 2 more. Those guys are little machines. I don't think the airline tubing water changes will be necessary any more.
http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q381/bnz0429/B97F90F0-B893-4FD6-8793-06412CE1CCC0_zps2yxhr6eb.jpg
My experiment with putting the diffuser underneath the sponges inside the HOB was a huge fail. I came home the next day 2 hours into the photoperiod and the drop checker was still blue. So I've placed it back in the tank, right underneath the HOB outflow. Unfortunately, the diffuser is suction cupped so close to the tank glass, that as the bubbles go straight upwards, they actually collect behind the outflow, instead of getting pushed out into the tank. Not sure what a solution to this is, or if it really is even an issue, because there are still plenty of microbubbles that get distributed, and some get sucked into the intake.