Neglected Planted Tank Restart!

[aibo210]

Hi

Ive neglected my juwel rio 125 for months due to family issues and want to start again with it whats the best way to go about it?

I have a ehiem external running on it aswell.

I was going to gut the thing scrub it and buy some new media for my filter as I dont know what bugs or nastys it will contain now.

Also would I need to buy new eco-compleate or can I wash the old stuff? and what would be the best way?

Any ideas or tips really would be helpfull to get this tank beautifull again as its full of furry black and brown algea!


Thanks guys

 

[Renate]

I was going to gut the thing scrub it and buy some new media for my filter as I dont know what bugs or nastys it will contain now.

Also would I need to buy new eco-compleate or can I wash the old stuff? and what would be the best way?

Any ideas or tips really would be helpfull to get this tank beautifull again as its full of furry black and brown algea!

If you get rid of the media and substrate you have to recycle the tank. The problem will come back if you don't correct the imbalance. A picture would help to see what deficiencies there are

I would soak the filter media in some water with some excel. Just take the top layer of gravel off and rinse it good with water containing conditioner in it. Take the plants out and spray them excel. Then manually take what algae off you can. Leaves that are really bad tear off. This is what I did for BBA. For my tank found KNO3 corrected the imbalance. My tap water has a ph and no Gh or Kh.

Have read that some do a bleach dip with 20 parts water and 1 part water.