Tank Transferral

Hello to all,
I have had a very generous offer of a much larger tank to keep my axies in, 3ft x 2ft x 2ft. However for the past few years it has been home to several freshwater tropical fish. The current owner has decided they no longer want to pursue this hobby and are not replacing any of the fish when they die. It is down to two nowadays which could easily be transferred into an aquarium that i have.
The question is would this be ok to then transfer the axies into? I would be transferring the river stones, the filter, the Hides/plants and the water from the tank that they have lived happily in for the last year.
Would i need to scrub out the tank with anything special?
Plus with all the contents of a cycled tank going into a new one surely it wouldnt need to cycle all over again. Is that right?

Many thanks in advance

I would clean the tank thoroughly just to be sure. Empty the tank and rinse out any debris. Use a very wet sponge and some baking soda to remove any water marks, slime, etc. Any stubborn watermarks can be removed with lemon juice or vinegar on a rag. Rinse the tank well again. Lastly, clean the inside again with a solution of 10% unscented household bleach. A good sized sponge will be fine but use gloves to protect your skin. Rinse very well to remove all traces of bleach.

When you redo the tank with your existing substrate and rocks you will transfer a lot of the beneficial bacteria over as well. As such you tank will cycle in a shorter time but it will still cycle. If moving the substrate I would take the opportunity to rinse it thoroughly so you are not moving any detritus. Rinsing in cool water will not remove all of the beneficial bacteria. There will still be plenty left to kick-start your cycle.

Congrats on the new tank.