Should the Coralline stay or go?

I just picked up a Biocube 29 off of craigslist, and it has a bunch of old coraline algae on the glass still. It's all over the filter compartment and the bio balls that came with it. Should I take the time to scrape it off, or should I leave it on? Will it pick back up before the tank was drained or just die off? Also, the guy i bought it from said he rinsed the tank in fresh water, will this make a difference?

 

That stuff is good as dead. I would scrape it all off if you can.

 

Yup. It will be grey coralline.

If the tank is dry you can use Vinegar to remove it and rinse and rinse and...

Congrats on the new tank, it's easy to whip them into shape.

 

Thanks! Looks like a long night with the razor blade then

 

Quick follow up question, will it soften the algae at all if I let it soak in fresh water? And should I boil the bio balls to get all of the old stuff off of them?

 

If the tank is completely dry I would run the entire tank bio balls and all in fresh water and distilled vinegar for 24 hours then all of it will come right off. No scrubbing needed lol

 

Awesome! ill definitely do that, its dry now. Should I do anything to get rid of the vinegar after I run it? Ill drain the tank, but will there be any residual? And how much do you recommend?

 

I would run it with fresh water for a few days. Maybe change out the fresh water once per day just to make sure the vinegar is gone. This may be the wrong answer but that's what I would do.

 

I used vinegar in mine and just gave it a thorough wash out after and all was fine.

 

use vinegar in a spray bottle scrap with a old credit card let vinegar sit for a day or so and keep spraying before you scrap