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barbs, algae, and plants



I've been following several posts over the last couple months, and particularly
the last few days with interest.  About 2 months ago I gave a friend my tiger
barbs, so that I could move my rainbows into a larger tank.  Unfortunately the
posting about tiger barbs eating hair algae came too late.

Prior to their move, I had a small problem with hair algae in the 55 gallon, but
within a couple weeks, it was growing rampantly on the flourite and on plants.
I've pulled handfuls of hair algae out of the tank.  It was even growing in the
Java Moss, so my Java Moss received a crew cut trying to get a handle on it.
Someone else posted that activated carbon reduced the iron in the water, so I
changed the carbon in my 350 Magnum, but no help.  So I finally resorted to buying
5 more small tiger barbs, and less than 2 weeks later, the hair algae is on the
decline.  Is there anything else that will help??  The tank is 9 months old and
has already gone through the red algae stage, so is this just another stage?

Will the tiger barbs will eat my baby swordtails and mollies if I were to put some
in the two 20 gallons with some hair algae??

Also, I've set up a 100 gallon pond and have noticed that there is a cross-over
between "aquarium plants" and "pond plants."  Which aquarium plants grow
successfully in the pond, but don't become invasive??  Apparently hair algae is a
problem in ponds too, so how do most people manage it in a pond.  Any advice is
appreciated!  I'm in zone 6/almost 7.
Karen
Gray, TN