You are a better grower than me, and your plants looks nice sir. Dont take this the wrong way please, just a stoner spewing random thoughts...I am but a link hack learning every day from you guys.
Heres a thought I had regarding the yellowing and leaf removal. More than likely it is a mobile nitrogen issue. Mobile meaning the tops are sucking up all the nitrogen from the older fans. With the removal, Im interested to see if this causes the plant to seek a new source of N. If the yellowing moves up the plants very rapidly, thats no bueno. But Ive also seen that any stressful techniqu seems to shut them down for a few days so maybe its all good. Im interested to see if the fans maybe should have stayed on til the yellowing subsided.
Not a critisim, just my brain spewing out. Plus I smoked some platinum Kush So Im 3 sheets!!