How I beat my Algae problem

Hi all
First off I'm a total newb to all this and learning tons of stuff daily mostly from this forum. I'm on strict budget, since being in construction and my wife was laid off, money is very tight. Our 55 gallon tank has been up since May of 2011 and has gone through all sorts of issues, the latest was a major algae problem. This algae was a green dusty kinda algae that was easy to brush off but came right back and covered the sand, rocks and glass. You can see in the pics the before and current progress that its a big difference and I feel I'm maybe 1/3 to where I should be. Now its just a waiting game.
First I got rid of my bio balls in my sump and put in a filter sock next to my skimmer. I have a hang on dual cartridge filter that came with the tank and I pack my own cartridges, one with GFO the other with Phosguard.
I bought some Chaeto and threw that in my sump and bought an LED light bulb from Home Depot that is bright as hell and is growing that Chaeto like crazy. Chaeto was $5.00 and $17 for the bulb, that runs 24/7.
Next bought 3 huge turbo snails and a few of those pyramid looking snails. Those turbos are eating like crazy, you can see the trail of clean rock they leave.
I bought a T5HO fixture that had cheap lights so I'm slowly replacing those with ATI purple plus and Blue + bulbs. I like that look and think that will help alot.
Lastly I bought a powerhead, I was just relying on the pressure from the return pump before and can see the difference now the powerhead makes, will be getting a few more soon.
Thats about it except for daily scrubbing and weekly 10% water changes, no more tap water, using only Ro from local fish store. Oh and vacuum the heck outta the sand, all the way down. Looks so much nicer now.

 

Here are the pics, didnt work first time.

 

Wont let me load my sand pic for some reason but that is all clean, getting very close now.

 

Good work! Sounds you addressed your issues! The water being a HUGE one! Congrats on getting your tank back!