Reconstruction of a new Tank, With Plenty of Questions

[Jason4785]

I have decided to destruct my 38 gallon tank...There are 2 clownfish in there as of now, I want to put them in a 15 gallon tank while I reconstruct my 38 gallon. Would they be fine if I just put 15 gallons of the old water and a few pieces of old LR? In the new tank I want to scrub all the LR I have now to get rid of the hair algae that is out of control and also put in some Caribsea Arag-Alive sand, will the scrubbing this will kill everything off the LR right? This was I can start a new cycle with the new sand and cleaned off LR? I'm going to continue my use of my canister filter but will take out all the media so that it is more of a powerhead. I want to add a protein skimmer, any suggestions for a smaller tank and I would prefer a hang on model. My biggest worry is if the clownfish will survive the 3-5 weeks the cycle will need to take in a stripped down smaller tank? Thanks guys, you're always a big help to me.

[bertoni]

Ocellaris clownfish should be okay for 3-5 weeks in that size tank, although it's a rather tight fit. I'd keep 15 lbs of live rock in their tank.

The scrubbing might not remove all the hair algae, in my experience. I use a lye solution to clean the surface of live rock when I have such problems. If I can get the rock out of the tank, I rinse it before putting it back in. Lye is rather dangerous, though, and will spike the alkalinity and pH of a tank.

Replacing the sand sounds like a good idea to me.

If you keep just the clownfish, a 20g tank might be a reasonable size, although a 29g wouldn't be much more work.