MrKalEl

I personally would start by doing a 100 percent water change over the next four weeks. That way you know what is in the water. during those water changes you can use a turkey baster to clean off the rocks and also put a filter sock on the tank drains if possible. Next, plan on adding an appropriately sized skimmer to the system. hopefully the sump can hold the right sized skimmer. If you can take the sump offline during a water change and get it 100 percent cleaned out that would probably help also.

I would definitely get the system up to snuff before adding any live stock. plus cleaning the tank and filtration super thorough may cause a small cycle.Your friend also needs to start hitting the books on reefkeeping, unless he is going to depend on someone else to take care of it.

Oh, and post some pictures!

I agree. Basically you are going to want to bring all the parameters into check, using fresh test kits, quality salt mix, and get the equipment cleaned up and online. Once this has been accomplished, you'll better be able to ascertain what else is needed. Bulbs need to be replaced, and a clean up crew will be the next purchase.

I'd also recommend going SLOW, slower then you would on your own tank too. I've helped or directly rehabbed a handful of tanks like this in similar conditions and found that fish were especially sensitive to going from very dirty tanks to cleaner ones. LIke was already mentioned water changes are a great start. Just bringing the system around to a basic and regular maintenance will probably solve most of the issues.

You may want to be cautious of mixing up sand, and if you are going to have a plan in place and sometimes the same goes for moving rock as you probably don't to stir up too much too quickly.

Good luck and please do post photos if you can.

Thanks for the help everyone...

Yesterday my friend contacted the original owner of the home and was told the tank started going bad with algae and hairy mushrooms that were impossible to get rid of. He suggested to my friend that he bleach the tank and restart everything...

What are your thoughts on that?

Since I can only give my suggestion, I would hate to tell him to not do that and a few months later realize stuff he wouldn't want starts taking over...

Even if he decided to do that...what is safe to keep? Some of the sand?

IMHO I don't think the previous owner knows what he is doing or talking about, otherwise the tank would not have gotten into this situation.

When I moved and upgraded to my current tank, I purposefully let my rock sit dry for three of four days to kill off unwanted life on the rock. I had xenia everywhere, and did not want that is the new tank. After that dry period I cured the rock like you would if you just ordered it, scrubbing and rinsing and then letting it cure by itself. You can do the same for the mushrooms. You can also put the fish in quarantine or tank them to a fish store and get the sand cleaned out. Maybe even change the sand if he is not in love with the type that is in there.

I think you need to sit down with the tank owner and discuss the options and find out how involved he wants the fix to be. He might be very happy with have a fish only live mushroom tank. The algae is easily fixed without putting bleach in the tank, I would never do that unless you were doing a full tear down, but then I would use acid at that point, not bleach.

hope this helps.

The whole "bleaching" concept has gotten out of hand. It started as a joke, something Evan and I cooked up for Reefcast - and was directed at a group of specific people that just didn't care.

No, he should not do anything like that. If he wants to eliminate algae, put the tank in darkness for a duration. No food, no light = no fuel for growth. If he has fish, they can be moved to a temporary tank that is cleaner.

If he wants to remove algae, he can do it manually after the darkened period. After he's done plucking it out, put 200 new snails in the tank to help mow down what remains. Getting the water parameters locked in will be an important step (no nitrate, no phosphate, good alkalinity, good magnesium, proper salinity).

Frilly /hairy mushrooms can be peeled off the rock, one by one.

There is no quick fix. It took a long time to get to this point, right? It's going to take weeks or more to get it back in shape. If anything, going through that period of time may teach the owner not to let it get away from him/her again.

The simplest option may be to purchase new live rock, and clean the tank well.