I agree, I don't limit anything in my tanks and haven't had any algae
problems since I started doing so. I do however get an increased
amount of dust and green spot algae if I raise my iron level too much.
My tanks don't require any additional iron other than what they get
from the substrate and trace mix and I can quickly tell when I add too
much traces at once as they have the same effect as when I try to
raise FE levels alone.

The idea of limiting nutrients in the water column seems to work well
for me in my low light tanks where I heavily fertilize the substrate
and nothing in the water. But when it comes to high light, I find
Tom's method of providing everything the plants need, without
obviously overdoing it, to give me the best results. I still fertilize
the substrate even in the high light tank however.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio