Question re: back of tank - keep glass clean or not?
 

Attached is a pic taken Jan 1. The space between the wall and back of the tank is just enough to squuueeezze an arm back there to clean with my magfloat and Easy Scraper and is doable - though it is a pain. So, is it generally ok just to let coraline algae, etc to just grow on the back pane (or is it personal choice? As per pic, I did paint the back blue initially. I do get some (not alot) of short hair algae that my blennie munches on, but wondering if it is beneficial to just leave the back pane or should it be kept as clean as the front and side glass.

Thanks.

All depends on your preferences. I never scrape the back wall. I used to, but was such a chore, and once it grows in, it will be consistent..

deffinitly clean the back. For many reasons too, first off, all reefs look way hotter when clean like that. second off, I believe that you get a better light value when the light is reflected off of clean glass back into the tank then absorbed by algea. and third off which is the most important one is that if you dont clean the algea off of the back wall, you will end up having algea grow, die, grow, die, grow some more and die some more meanwhile creating unexplainable levels of nitrates.......yeah, I clean the back wall of my tank for those reasons.

I personally don't clean it, but to each his own. It does look nice when it is clean. But I also think a tank developes character when you just leave it alone.

Personal preference: keep it clean - the colors of the corals and fish "pop" more against a clean black background. And ultimately the whole point in having a display tank is to "display" the inhabitants optimally.

Second option: cover the back in reef ceramics of some sort giving the appearance of a reef ledge providing additional places beyond the rock work to attach corals.

Hi Len,

I leave mine behind the rock... where no one can see it...but keep in mind that if you ever want to change your rock work, it will be harder scraping it off...totally up to you though. :wink:

This might change your mind. The difference is much more noticeable in person.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=62716

In my opinion never clean it.
It may look picture perfect if you do clean it but here is the downside.

Many reefers take care to remove detritus from the bottom of their tanks. They also take care to stop any non-macro algae, small outcropping of cyno from growing their tanks.

By leaving the back of your tank alone, tiny crabs, shrimp, pods, bacteria and many many other critters have a place to home and to eat and avoid being eaten and breed.

These critters are food or provide food through their eggs and larvae to the corals and some of the smaller fish in your tank.

leave it be, remove undesiriable algae, and encourage coraline growth. having clean back glass is horable when your trying to take pictures, give you washed out pictures unless you know how to edit them and gives you a ton of reflections in the pics. the ideal thing would be to get black glass for the back and have it etched to remove any reflective surface, you want to see colors pop.. try a black background.

Steve

I just let mine grow wild.