Need some help/advice

[flower]

I do a 8-10g water change every two weeks, I have the beginnings of HA on my back foam/rock wall. PO4 said 0, now I doubt the reading.
I have no skimmer on this tank yet...does a skimmer do anything that helps against HA?
I ask because I was going to break down the reef and use that skimmer but I thought I had time....Do I need to hurry it up?
What else can I do before this gets out of hand. I covered the tank top blocking the light over the algae I see but I see green but no hair in many places...only on the rock wall, I do have a diatom bloom going on as well.
I have not had a new tank for some time...I had forgotten what "fun" the first year is.

 

[flower]

Nobody can tell me if a skimmer makes any difference when dealing with hair algae?

 

[spanko]

Algae grows with available nutrients and light. A skimmer helps to remove nutrients. So the short answer is yes a skimmer helps to reduce the nutrients available to algae.