Cleaning a tank before starting to cycle.

Hi there,

After deciding to start a saltwater reef aquarium i know i need to start cycling my tank before adding fish and coral ect ect. My question is that before i used to keep tropical fish and its been about a year since i had them but my tank has had the gravel sitting at the bottom(cleaned then put back in tank) and the filter still attached(noticed abit of algae on the filter). Should I give my tank a though clean before starting to cycle or should i just remove the gravel and filter and put in my live sand, live rock and saltwater and let it begin, and if not exactly hos should i clean my tank