Hello Karen I have a 55gallon...

Question
Hello Karen
I have a 55gallon tank built into my baseent wall, had fish in it for years,I bought some bad fish eventuall everything died.The tank has stayed empty for a year or two.Empty from fish but full of water every so often I pour bleach in the tank to kill the allgey. Now im ready to put my fish back into the tank.First I think ill completely empty the tank and let it stay empty to air dry a couple of days.Then i will add water and a new filter and let run for a couple of days. Do you recomend something else, and why would an empty tank grow so much allgey.What kind of community fish should i start back with?
Thank you in advance....Willis  

Answer
Hi Willis,
I would recommend you do some good research on fishkeeping and species that are best for your 55gal and level of experience.

Your first step in getting you aquarium back up and running is to make sure ALL and EVERY remain of bleach is completely gone. I would try to rinse the aquarium out a couple of times just to be sure and smell for bleach residue. You'd be best filling and draining the aquarium outside with a garden hose or two.
If you don't smell any bleach, I would go ahead and fill the aquarium up and put in an extra amount of water conditioner as this will help some with any small bleach residue. Let the aquarium run with filter, heater (if neccesary) and everything setup for a week. Check for any bleach smell again. Then I would consider it safe to add about 6 small hardy fish. This can be Zebra danios, white clouds, platies, or black skirt tetras. This will start your cycling of the special beneficial bacteria whom consume harmful ammmonia and nitrite and convert it to less dangerous compounds. This process takes about 4-6 weeks to complete and be not to add ANYMORE fish in the aquarium until your aquarium cycles which is indicated by a test result of zero ammonia, zero nitrite, and a rise in nitrate which is the least toxic of the three and the end of the bacteria cycle.
((hope this made some sense))

You can also "fishless" cycle which is much more humane than "fish" cycling. This involves adding a cooked "salad" shrimp or a good pinch of fish food to provide an ammonia source due to the rotting process when the food sits for a lenth of time in the tank. Fishless cycling still requires water testing just as fish cycling to moniter how everything is working.

Community fish? Well, there are so mant species and varieties, its kind of up to you. I know some of the best community fish are Platies, danios, the more commoner tetras, rasboras, rainbowfish, guppies, the list is forever! Selecting the right fish is up to your preferances and more importantly, which species are more compatible and can thrive their full lifespan in your size aquarium. If you would like some good fish combinations put together by a well-advanced aquarist I know of "David E. Boruchowitz" just let me know.

Your aquarium probably previously grew algae because of excess light. Either from the tank possibly or high sunlight levels reaching the aquarium possibly. High nutrients are big cause of high algae populations, algae that has gone through it's life cycle and died provides a food source for the newly living algae and the cycle continues.

Well, I really hope this helps! Feel free to email me with anymore questions or concerns you may have..

Best wishes,
Karen~
A book I would highly recommend you look into to get started in the right tract is-
"The simple guide to freshwater aquariums"
just a thought...