Bio pellets work good for Nitrate, but once that level is low, they don't do a lot for phosphate. I've been using Ecobak plus pellets for a few years now and overall they have worked quite well. I started getting some hair algae too and ended up adding a small gfo reactor in addition to deal with the algae/phosphate. Now everything is on the up and up and pretty much no algae at all (Nitrate also stays consistently around 1-2.) A few keys to using biopellets are an appropriate reactor (The accel aquatics one on marine depot is excellent), having a strong skimmer near the reactor output, and only starting with about half the recommended dose for your size tank and then gradually working up. As far as what pellets to use, both Ecobak and Ecobak are excellent, IMO. Anyway, hope that helps.