Please take my suggestion at your own risk. I have had a major hair algae (debersia)/dictoya algae problem. For over 1 year, I had no algae problems. My algae problems all started when my skimmer broke two days after I added three small lps frags to my fowlr (not a fowlr anymore). I then bought a replacement skimmer which was undersized. I then got another skimmer which is working out well. Meanwhile, my tank was not being skimmed properly for several weeks and the algae went everywhere. My problem was extremely severe in which I had very thick algae covering every inch of every rock and surface in the tank, including powerheads and the back wall. I then through carbon dosing and bacteria dosing and aggressive water changes got my nutrients extremely low, however, the algae persisted. I then turned to algaefix and started out using algaefix with the prescribed dosage and frequency, and it seemed to stop the algae from growing further but not really eliminating it. I did 8 doses per the package instructions, but the algae did not really die off. Out of frustration, I decided to up the dose and frequency. I have now dosed every other day (instead of every 3 days) three times the prescribed dose. I am at my 6th dose at this level, and my fish have shown no signs of stress, and my three lps corals are doing great. The algae is now definitely dying off.
As such, if you are in a desparate situation and algaefix does not seem to be workiing well, you may want to take the risk of increasing the dose and frequency of dosing rather than break down the system. It seems to be working for me. Much of my algae is gone, and my phosphates and nitrate remain at low levels through the continuation of carbon/bacteria dosing and the algae is not growing back. However, you have to first get your nitrate and phosphate under control otherwise the algae will grow back even after dosing algaefix.
