Jumping into S/H

[MT-Phal]

So being tired of the, what seems like, high maintenance factor of traditional growing medium... the past year or so has been coconut husk... i'm considering going into S/H. It seems like a very simple, yet effective way to keep your plant in top shape. And I read on Ray's site a complaint about cost... but $19 for a kit seems like an incredible bargain. I think I paid $25 for a bag of husk, and I'm on the constant look out for mold, moistness, air flow, etc.


So after spending the afternoon reading a bit on it, I have a few general questions.

I live in southern California and the weather is almost always dry, and lately has been very hot. If I were to repot into S/H now, would these conditions be okay for my phal? It currently has one (visible) root about to come out, and during the last couple months sprouted a handful of new roots. I'm hoping that if I repotted, these relatively new roots would be okay.

Would it help the roots adjust if I kept the resevoir down to a minimum the first few weeks or so?

And lastly, does algae do no harm?

I'm wanting to do this jump right now, b/c after an inspection this morning, I noticed that an older root had a case of mold and was on it's way out. If this was a b/c the root already old and dying, or just a case of mold, I'm not sure. I've kept this plant right by a window that recieves gentle breezes through the day so I'm puzzled that there's mold at all. I've already repotted this plant a handful of times in the last year or so, not wanting to do this every six months.