Algea On Back Glass

[salty tank]

Who here cleans that algea? I dont. I think it looks more natural and algea can be benificial i heard. Someone let me know if i should clean it off/
Thanks

 

[drew2005]

I never clean it. Unless it really gets outta control. Food for my clean up crew.

 

[dougai]

i clean it...
it looks brighter with the blue showing in the background

 

[mikeyjer]

Originally Posted by dougai
i clean it...
it looks brighter with the blue showing in the background
Get some snails, they'll do the clean up for you. But wait, aren't you the one that had to constantly flip them over? Aren't your snails doing any cleaning at all? Mine does, they have the back cleaned off mostly. :happyfish

 

[bronco300]

i try to clean mine sometimes...doesnt seem to need it always, but i think maybe i'll try for a wall of xenia on my back, see what it looks like and if itd be a neat background,lol

 

[mitzel]

mine stays kinda nasty . I set the tank to close to the wall to get on the back with the mag float so the middle is grimmy.

 

[murph145]

i never clean my back and its wierd cuz for some reason it never gets that thin coat of algae on it like the front does every other day....
hmmm i guess the snails like the back glass better.... really interesting i always wondered y the back stayed clean with no effort

 

[salty tank]

As of right now i only have 9 snails. I am getting more as time goes on. I think the algea looks better than a plain black backround. The algea makes the whole tank look more natural. Of coarse i only let the algea grow on the overflow and the back glass. My snails are eating some of the algea on the back.
Is it bad for algea to grow on the back without cleaning it? will this cause bad water conditions?

 

[murph145]

naw algae doesnt make for bad water conditions but an algae outbreak can mean that you have bad water conditions since algae feeds off of the excess nutrients in the water....
every tank is going to have some forms of algae from slime to diatoms to hair to bubble i have some of it all in small areas and my tank is well established with perfect water quality ... algae just happens

 

[laust]

i've got a 30 gal with 10 turbos... they crawl all over the back glass, but it never gets clean, my orange linkia cant even get it clean... now i've got spirorbid worms popping up... is there a better snail?

 

[salsells]

I use the magnet on the front and side glass, snails take care of the back, I have a 40gal and about 20 snails and 15 hermit crabs, 3 em crabs and they work hard.

 

[jttenpro]

Mexican turbo snails seem to be the best at cleaning the glass. My built in overflow is always kept clean by them and they do a great job on the live rock. Those big guys are great. IMO

 

[mudplayerx]

I never clean the back or side panels of my tank. I think the coraline algae looks nice against my black background. Also, the microalgae on the back/side panels is host to TONS of copepods which my psychedelic mandarin munches on.

 

[1journeyman]

I never clean mine, but since I added a refugium with a lot of macro algae my hair algae on the back of the tank has almost disappeared.
Guess there is something to that whole nutrient export thing

 

[jes723ika]

I've noticed some of you have said you have black backgrounds for your tanks... Is that a must??? I set mine up and do not have that.. although my fish tank is basically up against the wall and its a darker color green... does the reflection bother the fish or something????
Thanks
Jes

 

[1journeyman]

Nah.. most just use a background (or paint the tank on the outside) to keep from looking through the tank at something else.
Reflections can bother fish, but sounds like you are fine the way you have it.

 

[jes723ika]

thanks journeyman i appreciate the reply