Fighting nutrients with waterchanges is not the best bet as that will get costly, but you should keep up on weekly 10% waterchanges plucking out and siphoning out as much algae as you can each time. It should eventually sputter itself out if you are diligent in your maintenance. Check out the "Mucking about" article I wrote in Reef Hobbyist Magazine in the link in my signature.
I'm not so keen on the API phosphate kit, but if that number is accurate it is high. I do like the API nitrate kit though, and nitrate is higher than I would like to see it too.
The Red Sea skimmer isn't very good. I think there are mods you can do to put a better skimmer in there....do a Google search for "Red Sea Max skimmer mod" and see what you can find. I can't remember how much space is in the back of those Max tanks, the tiny footprint of some in-sump skimmers might fit in there (like Skimz or Bubble Magus), but the skimmer would be sticking up out of the tank. You could put an HOB skimmer on there hanging off the back of the back chamber maybe...Deltec MCE skimmers are really great, but pricey (find a used one!). That would help a lot if you could get a better skimmer.
I'm not sure what phosphate filter you have on your RO? Do you mean DI resin? Could you take a pic?
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~ Mindy
SPS fanatic.
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