Cleaning Tank Help

[fishbigfish]

Hi

I'm kinda new to this fish lark and have a question about cleaning out a tank.

The tank currently has 5 Angel fish and 2 Pelcos also some how 6 little snail things that I have no idea where these came from ??

I did have 12 neon blues but after buying them the next morning they were all gone I the darn angel fish ate them all up !!!!!!!!

It also has lots of rocks a long air bubble curtan as wll as allot of real plants, maybe that's where the snail's came from ???

Have had the tank up and running for about 3 month now and its beginig to look pretty dirty inside, I regulery clean the pump and filters but I fear that I will have to empty and clean it all up and fill it again, here is where I wonder how how you go about this.

1. When I filled the tank initialy I added this blue stuff to the water to sort out the stuff in the water, I then left it like that for 3 weeks to build up the "friendly bacteria" with heater water and air pump running then added the fish all together.

Question, if I empty the tank will I have to leave it for weeks again or can I use some of the current water and mix it with fresh water with some more water treatment stuff again ?

Question 2 how do you clean all the stones in the bottom ? I was thinking of using a colinder as the holes are small enough that I don't lose the stones seems to be a good idea.

Question 3 will I have to let the water warm up again before putting the fish back in ? if so I only have one heater so what happens to the fish left in a spare smaller tank will they be ok getting cold ? thought I could turn heating on to keep them warm (o: or maybe use warm water from my hot water tank and make sure when mixed with cold its not hotter than 25 - 26 deg C ??

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

fishbigfish

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank.

Take the rocks out and scrub them in hot salty water, Rinse well and leave them to dry out. When you say stones do you mean gravel.
Get a gravel vac and hover the substrate.
No need to strip the tank down and start again.
Clean glass with an algae scraper.
Put fresh filter floss into the filter.

What are your water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Neons don't mix with angels as angels eat them in the wild.
Research the fish before you buy.

Plecs are massive waste producers so need to maintain the tank once a week with gravel vac and water change.