I too WAS dealing with out of control hair algae,it had me on the verge of shutting down.Me and my wife spent 7 hrs. tearing the tank down and she scrubbed a 100 lbs.of rock with a toothbrush.Everything looked great for a few weeks till IT started coming back worst than ever.Bought algae eating fish,snails,even tryed urchins.I don't overfeed, always rinse frozen,stepped up water changes,yes,i use ro/di water
hand picked once a week for an hour
THEN i bought a phosban reactor....WOW that saved the day !!!
Been running about 2 weeks and everyday i can see the difference,it's almost totally gone !! At this rate from starting the reactor i'll be algae free in 3 weeks WOOO HOOO