Advice for replacing a betta

[Bliss]

My first betta fish just died after having him for a little over a year. As I start to think about getting another betta, I was looking for some advice regarding my setup. Specially, reusing items with a new fish and algae growth.

My main tank is a 2.5 gallon and I have a smaller 1 gallon that I would use when I was cleaning the larger tank. I use a small heater, a betta 'hammock' and a couple of decorations in the tank. I tried live plants on a couple of occasions, but they didn't fare well. At times I both used a filter and went without and could never decide which way was best.

Over the past few months, algae growth became a bit of an issue. It seemed to be growing faster. I was able to keep in check with frequent partial water changes and cleaning the decorations often. What's the best way to keep in it check? I avoided using chemicals and toyed with the idea of introducing an algae sucker, but I was worried it would be too many fish for a tank of that size. I did test the water few time recently and nothing seemed to be out of whack.

As of late, there was some algae growth on the rocks too, but a relatively small amount.

Is it safe to use the same decorations in the tank with a new betta? If so, any recommendations on how to throughly clean them to curb the algae growth? Can I/should I use the same rocks?

I should point out that I don't think water quality had anything to do with my betta getting sick, but I felt it was going to become a potential issue as time went on. I'd like to a good handle on things as much as possible before adding another fish to the mix.

Thanks for the help - this site was a great resource as I learned about bettas.

[Fabian]

You could boil your equipment and dry them under hot sun.Fast algae growth may due to high light intensity and/or too much nitrate.
You can keep some ghost shrimp with your betta too.They will eat the algae.