Dirty Tank...

[spacepony]

It's been a while, and life has interfered with my tank....so...

Anyway, my upstairs tank (45g) has loads of probably cyano, algae. I took the heater out (to put in the one downstairs - a 75g). Moved the one fish to the downstairs. Now I have a cold tank, (house temperature - probably 70F), which still has Koralia's moving the water. But now I have a tank of LR and scum. Eventually, the tank needs to go, but for now I need advice on what to do first? Full clean? dump it all, and whatever beneficial LR properties it has and dry it out? Put a heater in it again and keep it in the dark? Eventually, I need to sell this, but I would very much like to have it in the healthiest possible state. Oh yes, did I mention the bubble algae?
Any advice appreciated!

 

[ringo®]

Full clean sound like the least headache to me.

 

[nickg]

Full clean

 

[iu_gary]

Dump it and put the rock out in the sun to dry out and kill the algae.

 

[sewer urchin]

and whatever beneficial LR properties it has and dry it out

If it dries out, you are starting from scratch on the whole cycling process, so probably it will look rough for awhile. I've read about how phosphates might get bound up in the rock and could leach out for a while. If you kill the rock you may want to research some methods of phosphate removal, I don't know if this will happen or not, but it's some fun reading.

I'd do a full clean.
I'm in the process of bubble algae removal myself. I'm pulling the rock and in a separate bucket scrubbing it down with a good brush and spraying it with Hydrogen Peroxide ( regular store bought that I but into a spray bottle -like a plant mister). This is supposed to kill off the algea but not all the nitrafying bacteria. In clean bucket, a heater and a power head it should keep for some time, I'll check to see if any bubble algea pops up again, so far nothing.
While I'm at it I taking some extra time vacuuming any organic detritus out of the sand bed as well. good luck!

 

[joseayes]

This hobby is demanding and rewarding, and it could be just a waste if we leave it unattended, waste of money and bad for the life of fish and invertebrates. Reading first post just makes feel that whatever fish or inhabitant were just left alone and die. Bad. Please correct me if I'm wrong. JH>O

 

[jdavid]

He said he moved the fish and just left a tank full of water and rock unattended

 

[joseayes]

JDavid;901330 wrote: He said he moved the fish and just left a tank full of water and rock unattended

Oh! Thank you Josh! I clearly misunderstood :doh:

 

[jdavid]

Lol no problem

 

[spacepony]

Full clean then...I hate killing off the biofauna, but I'm sure the temperature drop has done away with that by now (yeah, long convoluted story on why there's not a heater in it)
and yes, the fish was moved
Hydrogen peroxide sounds like an interesting method. Anyone else with experience on this?