To clean, or not to clean??

[susiepan]

I have heard so many different answers on this subject, what do you all think???
Do you clean the BACK of your tanks glass??
I know its a pain to do when you have a reef, but how many of you do it??
Thanks
~Sue

 

[rockster]

Initially, the back of the tank will look dirty but over time when you have the right conditions (Calcium level, lighting, etc) coralline algae will cover the back of the tank if you do not clean it. If you do, coralline algae will not be able to grow there.

 

[rockster]

Initially, the back of the tank will look dirty but over time when you have the right conditions (Calcium level, lighting, etc) coralline algae will cover the back of the tank if you do not clean it. If you do, coralline algae will not be able to grow there.

 

[nm reef]

I've never even attempted to clean the back....and don't clean the sides either. Once every 10 days or so I clean the front and thats it. The rest is pretty much coraline.....and the back would require me to remove lots of LR just to partially clean it.....

 

[byrself]

i don't clean the back of mine, because it's too much of a hassle. also, i figure a little algae on the backside can only help, so why bother with it? there's other creatures as well that like to reside on the back glass, and i don't want to destroy their home either. now i have coralline growing on the glass, and i definately don't want to wipe that away. so, my advice to you, is if you don't have to look through it to see what you're looking at, just leave it be. besides, i like the way the glass looks when it's covered with stuff. there's my .02

 

[joe's reefer]

i dont unless it gets bad.my cleaning crew usually does the job

 

[deucey]

I don't clean mine either.....over time the glass will almost become clean itself and then out of the blue, coralline will start to appear!!....The only glass i do clean is my front....maybe the sides every now and then......i like it with stuff on it.....gives it charactor....and it looks better than a background!!......

 

[the infamous sea cucumber]

Just a quick question. Why won't the coraline algae grow back after you clean it off? I've never done it, but I ask out of curiosity.

 

[susiepan]

Thanks Guys for your input, I was just asking because I heard it was "BAD" to do, and was just curious...I dont clean mine either..
~Sue

 

[byrself]

if you "cleaned" the coralline, it should just spread around other part of the tank as dust, but if you let it stay on the glass, it will cover over and probably make it easier to grow coral off of. i've heard of polyps and even xenia growing off the glass, and i'd assume they'd need the coralline base to grow from. i think it would be cool to have some corals growing off the glass. especially on the back.

 

[heavenly damsel]

I clean mine, but that is probably just the OR nurse in me that makes me do it. My clean up crew keeps it pretty clean, I just help a little. I don't like the looks of what grows on the back of some of the "show" tanks I see in the LFS....looks dirty! Want mine squeaky clean.
Just MHO.