Old water and sand. Still good?

[y2sba]

I have a friend that is willing to sell me his 55g for very cheap. In it he has about 2.5" aragonite. In the tank he once had a small clown, small chromis, small crab, and a snail. All four died in the tank many months ago. He does'nt know why but i'm pretty sure the nitrogen cycle got em. He has left the tank alone ever since that. With no lighting, pumps, filters, nothing. But the sand is still there and the tank is still about 30% full of water the rest must have evaporated. The genius even left the dead bodies of the inhabitants in the water. The salinity of the water must be extremly high. On the surface of the sand there are still a bunch of dead algae, probably still there from the cycle. My question is this. Is it still okay to use this sand for my setup. Should i syphon the rest of the water. Should i also syphon the surface of the sand to get rid of some junk that's there? Also remember that 2 fish and 2 inverts died and rot in this tank. And the water has been sitting idle for almost a year. Is it still safe.

[saltwaterdave]

I would'nt use any of it.

[zhenya]

IMO, junk everything and clean that tank with some mild bleach solution and then rinse it really well with fresh water. Then it'll be usable again. I agree with saltwater, wouldn't use any of it. Why take a chance to start with some build in problem?