What has helped the most? The aquascape. I have total and easy access to entirely vacuum the sand. Takes all but 15 mins and into a filter sock. This gave me the advantage of staying on top of its critical mass.
Second: increased water flow. I hadn’t realized that my pumps weren’t running at 100%. Maybe 60%. Cranking them up with the simple turn of a knob helped clear the rock and suspend dinos in the water column. I basted regularly in nooks and crannies too (which I had done all along but the flow has helped.)
These easily observable factors I think were most important, allowing the “invisible” ones to make their impact. And these Invisible factors, naturally, will be up for debate: #3. UV, #4. Rowaphos, #5. filter sock removal, #6. Vibrant injections into sand, #7. ZEObak Microorganism Solution, #8. Coral Snow - Korallen-Zucht, #9. feeding increased with addition of phytoplankton. [Edited 2/27; added the list #3-#9 of the other changes I’ve made.]
I’m working on a report of what I did with a timeline from my journal, scope photos, and will post ASAP.