How should I do this...

[chabooky386]

So with my chaotic travel work schedule I pawned off my fish to a fellow friend and i've let my bare tank die. I came back after two month of neglect and I got like red algae growing. And, now I see something that I can describe as like weeds growing in my tank. 30 gallon tank and its been just neglected for too long. Corals are still alive and look in fair condition. What should I do if I want to start this bad boy up again? How much of a water change? And, what else shall I "must" do?

[burtbollinger]

I'd clean off the corals, place in QT, then basically start over with new rock (or totally cleaned) and sand...clean all equipment like new.

 

what you should actually do may be different.  Wait for other's advice before moving forward.

[Clown79]

I'd syphon out some water (don't disturb rocks or sand at this point) into bucket or qt tank, place corals in it with heater and powerheads.

 

I'd remove my rocks and place them in a bucket with syphoned water.

 

Dump the sand, remove remaining water. Clean the tank, pumps, filter.

 

Then i'd scrub my rocks, possibly do  peroxide dip if its infested with algae, rinse really well.

Replace them in tank

Fill with new livesand.

 

 fill with new salt water and water the corals are in. Replace corals.

 

Basically your sand needs to be new or thoroughly washed. Thats where most of the problem is but new is just less work than washing the old sand. 

 

The rocks being scrubbed will get rid of all the algae.

 

 

[chabooky386]

Anyone?

[Clown79]

We answered your questions. 

 

 

[KyleAwesome]

Power was on? Have the heaters, pumps and lights been on this whole time? How low did the water level drop, any rock/coral exposed to air?

If it was only 6-8 weeks of no water changes, I wouldn't blow up the tank and start over. However to avoid pissing everything off, I'd suggest doing a 25% water change, wait a day, do a 50%, wait another day, do another 50% change and test all your levels. If you've got a bunch of cyano or green hair algae, replace all of your chemical filtration (new carbon, phosguard, purigen, what have you) run for a day or two, manually remove what you can (scrape scrape scrape) and test your levels once more. It'll be an uphill battle but you should be able to get it under control. I'd also recommend looking into some vibrant aquarium cleaner, it will make your manual efforts 10x as effective. 

 

If things are looking OK, no need to go nuclear until you have tried the basics. Whats the worst that could happen?