29 Gallon Tank Tank Needs Some TLC

[CatM30]

So i have a 29 gallon tank with 6 corydoras and 6 honey gourami, its planted with a sand bottom and a large piece of driftwood. I've been having some algae problems and there's a huge chunk of algae on a part of the driftwood that isn't easily accessed. Admittedly because of school and work I haven't been the most attentive, like I've been doing regular water changes but probably haven't been scraping and as thorough as I maybe should have been. I'd love to do a deep clean of the aquarium, while obviously being careful not to kill off the beneficial bacteria. How should i do this? Would it be less stressful for the fish if I transfer them to a bucket while I clean?

 

[Nikn]

Do you want to clean the drift wood or the glass? If you want to get rid of algae on the glass use a razor or one of those magnets. Your fish won't really mind. When cleaning driftwood, make sure not to use chemicals and clean them in tank water. What kid of algae do you have?

 

[CatM30]

Ideally I'd like to clean both, but the driftwood is definitely moreso my concern. I'd also like to do a deep clean of the sand substrate too. It's just the driftwood is so large that I worry that removing it and putting it back in will be a lot for the fish to handle

 

[Nikn]

We you can syphon the substrate but then don't clean the filter. If you are afraid to stress your fish out by removing the driftwood you could get a siamese algae eater who will clean the driftwood for you. Of course this depends on what type of algae you have

 

[CatM30]

Ideally I'd like to clean both, but the driftwood is definitely moreso my concern. I'd also like to do a deep clean of the sand substrate too. It's just the driftwood is so large that I worry that removing it and putting it back in will be a lot for the fish to handle

Oh and its a lot of hair algae on my plants, and then just the regular kind on my glass, and then whatever is on the back of the driftwood I cant really see

 

[Nikn]

Oh and its a lot of hair algae on my plants, and then just the regular kind on my glass, and then whatever is on the back of the driftwood I cant really see

A siamese algae eater would clean those algae for you no problem. That way you won't disturb the fish. But if you want to do it manually you can just make sure the syphon around the driftwood and when putting it back make sure you don't put it on top of one of your corries.

That happened to me once. A small bp was on a pice of driftwood and when syphoning I crushed him in between the rock and the wood. I was really upset after that.