Mine got out of control..tried everything..lastly, I spent a couple of hours pruning and pulling...filled up a qt container (chinese food soup container) of hair. Then I began a 4 week vigil of Phosguard treatments and added an emerald crab. Thats been 6 weeks now, I have no hair algae and I can stop it before it gets too far gone if it starts back. I fought this for 6 months so I am very happy now. My problem is my water, I need to get an RO/DI unit. Still shopping.