Yeah, hair algae can be tough because when you trim down the plants to remove it, then there are less plants to take up nutrients, and you get a second wicked wave of algae. I have snails in mine that love brush algae, so that's a plus. I have semingly dealt with hair algae in that I am much more careful about nutrient (nitrates, phosphates, etc.) produced by fish and put in in the form of supplements.
I had a terrible time with phosphates and started using a buffer, only to find out that the buffer had a lot of phosphates in it. "Safe for All Fish and Plants" my ***. Anyway, I put an hour light break in the middle of the day and switched to RO/DI water. Algae have a hard time ramping up photosysnthesis and plants don't, so puting in a break disrupts algae growth but not the plants'. My well water was highly filtered but still had phosphates and nitrates. Switching to RO/DI and adding back in the correct amount of hardness/salts seems to be working well. I have a 9"+ Pleco who is very sensitive so I know immediately if there is a problem. My CO2 was on the blink and the pH skyrocketed, and this was easily evident by the Pleco's coloration. Like a canary in the tank!
I really like how your FWP is aquascaped. Mine is similar except I put in some larger river rock and less wood. I also have a couple of red plants that help break up the green a bit. One I got from Wal-Mart (shudder) that looked like some kind of tuber. It has red leaves and sends shoots to the surface with a red leaf at the surface. The gourami likes to hover under them sometimes. What I like about planted tanks is practice for reefs. But in a planted tank, if you screw up, you just cut the plants back and they grow again. It's cool to see new advantageous shoots etc. and that's just a hint of what it's like to have a healthy reef.
I know it may be late in the game, but have you thought about using some TBS rock? You are going "big-time" and that stuff sure produces results. MY local LFS is selling a variety of "live" rock all for $6 - $8 per lb. and it's nothing like the TBS stuff.
As far as overflow, check out:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=588249
This a great overflow but...Now my question for you is, what happens when something like hair algae, dead fish, etc. gets stuck in the tangs of the overflow? How do you get it out? What about coralline algae? That will grow and cover the back of the tank if you are doing a good job. How do you keep the underside of the brace near the overflow clean? It will surely get scum on it right? On this one, there is no center brace, because he used very thick plastic.
I would suggest that you use an overflow as seen in the 4th picture down, with no tangs, and build the upper lip around the tank but not across the overflow. Then use a device like this:
http://www.aqua-medic.com/products/filteraccessories/overflowcomb.shtml
It's removable, cleanable, replaceable...you can line up 3 or 4 on the back of a big tank...and you or I could probably make it if we needed to.
Just some food for thought.--J
