How to overhaul a tank

[idris]

I'm starting to think about a complete overhaul of my 250l tank and plan a couple of upgrades (primarily to flow).

I'm going to need to do the whole thing pretty quickly as I only have a small tank to put the fish in while I do it. The substrate is also is well populated with Assasin Snails.

My biggest problem will be cleaning up all the algae on the glass and hardscaping.

I also have some concerns about the ease of finding some Ottos that I hardly ever see. I've only seen one at a time for about a year so I don't know how many there are.

Any tips?

 

[LancsRick]

A large transparent plastic tub. Siphon a fair amount of water into said tub. Remove each piece of hardscape/flora one at a time, shaking as you do, and then move to the tub. Eventually you end up with an empty tank with just your fauna and substrate.

Now catch your fauna.

Substrate will be difficult, you might have to remove it a bit at a time and sift through to get the snails out, or you could put it in a container, cover in water so the assassins are fine, and then just put it back in once the tank is cleaned.

Oh, and keep your filters going .

 

[idris]

Any tips on the actual cleaning process? Getting rid of the algae and crud in the substrate?

 

[ian_m]

When I inherited some algae covered sand, I soaked it in a bucket of strong bleach overnight, washed thoroughly in bucket with hose pipe outside (trying to not lose too much), washed in dechlorinator and put in tank. Done.