Need help

The tank has been setup just over a year and a half for sure. I cleaned the algae off the rocks(most of it). Siphoned the sand real good too. I removed 2 buckets of tank water(which was at 1.022 SG). The new water was kept at the same temp and 1.022 SG. I scraped and brushed the sides of the tank prior to the new water also.

Now, I changed the power head filter and the hang on charcoal filters and plugged it back in and now the charcoal filter pump don't work so possibly I will have to buy another one. Oh, I found 3 more of the bristle worms in there so I left them(the other 2 from yesterday got flushed).

Currently the tank is pretty clean but should have another cleaning in a week I think. I might take that sponge filter and squeeze it out outside then put it back in.

What is the real way of doing that with the sponge filter...are you supposed to squeeze it out in a bowl and the absorb some back into the sponge before putting it back in the tank?