Scraping Glass! How many sides do you clean?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I do the front and sides

 

[vetteguy53081]

With a tank 4 foot deep, I can get the left and right foot of the Back wall. Front and sides do get done

 

[squidarcher]

I personally like to keep all 4 sides of my glass super clean. Even the black back. I like that effect. But I see a lot of people that let the back or sides go natural (algae or coralline). How many sides to you keep clean?

I feel that one. Try to keep all sides clean, but sometimes the back just gets annoying. Planning a GSP wall anyways though.

 

[McPuff]

I do the front and most of the two sides. The tank really would look better if I could keep the back clean (black) but I never even tried. It's 3' front to back and the wall is about 5" behind the tank so there's no real good way to even clean it. When I see pics of the tank a few years ago I love how it looks when clean. The depth of the tank really shows and the fish and corals stand out more. Ah well...

 

[muggle reefer]

If you are not cleaning the back of your tank you are doing yourself a disservice. Some may say they like a dirty back and initially it may be exciting your tank is healthy enough to be growing lots of pink or purple coralline algae but why didn’t you paint the back purple? Why doesn’t anyone?

If you look at any “tank of the month” quality tank they pretty much all have clean backs. Now we can’t all have that quality but we all can improve our tanks with a little extra work. They are display tanks after all.

If I scrape my back once a week that is usually good enough to keep it clean. It’s a pain, I break corals I knock things over, but my display as a whole is much more attractive because of that.

I would only agree with this sentiment if it made a difference as to health of the tank and that not cleaning all sides was the healthier choice. Otherwise it is just a cosmetic preference. I would think the tank would be healthier as it give more surface area for natural occuring growth to help clean and maintain the water quality. I would think coralline algae is more healthy for the tank. If it is of neutral impact then it is strictly a matter of personal preference.

 

[radiata]

Hmmm... Nobody mentioned this odd problem with corallines on glass. Corallines, over time, will etch glass. The glass actually gets a semi frosted look. My 180 is close to 20 years old. The previous owner had it in a cabinet that prevented the sides from being scraped. Ever since I set it up, you can't see clearly through the glass sides like you can from the front. You've been warned...

 

[Jilly92]

I personally like to keep all 4 sides of my glass super clean. Even the black back. I like that effect. But I see a lot of people that let the back or sides go natural (algae or coralline). How many sides to you keep clean?

Typically 3. But mainly front because my snails and blenny like eating off the glass but rarely the back.

 

[Paul B]

I only clean the front because I have many fish that hunt all day like this clingfish. He is actually on the side of the tank, I turned the picture to make it easier to see but that stuff growing is full of life.



The growth explodes with pods to keep the mandarins, pipefish and others well fed so I never have to feed these fish.

 

[Fish man]

When I was aqua scaping my 2nd tank I did some research first and an article I read said if you're gonna have a backing then make it a solid color and keep your back glass clean, it's adds the illusion of more depth. I learned from my first tank to keep my rock work far enough off the glass so I could clean all four sides. Coralline won't grow on my glass anyway, so after reading this thread I don't know if I'm lucky or disappointed. But as Vette67 and others said, It's personal preference!

 

[Ef4life]

During the week I do 3 sides quickly with the magnet cleaner. On the maintenance day I clean and scrape all 4 sides on glass backed tanks.

the biocube with it’s plastic back gets a light scrub to remove any film algae, but I don’t scrape any coralline that grows.

 

[RedReefer]

I have an 80 gallon cube visible from three sides.I clean all panels except the back glass. On my previous tag I kept all four sides clean. I guess it’s a personal preference.

 

[stanlalee]

All sides. Made sure my rocks are well off the walls on both tanks partly so the back wall won't get neglected (as well as flow).

 

[Vette67]

This is why I don't scrape my back or sides. The clean spots are from what that urchin ate. And they eat a LOT of coralline. I can see keeping more sides clean on a peninsula tank, I would too... But I only need to see through the front.

 

[Fish man]

This is why I don't scrape my back or sides. The clean spots are from what that urchin ate. And they eat a LOT of coralline. I can see keeping more sides clean on a peninsula tank, I would too... But I only need to see through the front.

Wow Vette67. Looks like you won't be getting tank of the month any time soon. I read your post from Wednesday and I know how disappointed you must be. #smarta_ _

 

[Vette67]

Wow Vette67. Looks like you won't be getting tank of the month any time soon. I read your post from Wednesday and I know how disappointed you must be. #smarta_ _

Yes, you can’t imagine how disappointed I am!

 

[JayLu]

I only clean the front and part of the sides on my tank. I let some of my corals grow against the sides and I actually encourage plating/encrusting type corals to grow on the back glass and anything I can superglue to the overflow. I like how it looks and figure why waist the space?

 

[ca1ore]

..... all seven!

 

[SKMoss]

Glad to see this discussion. Simple answer is I scraped the back on prior tanks and will do it on the new tank.

Why? I’m trying to emulate the environments I dove in, in the South Pacific. I’ve never looked at a coral, fish, or anything else that had a wall of pink behind it. Back drops are typically sand, rock, other corals, or clean water. About the closest I can remember seeing is the bottom of the dive boat in need of a hull scrap with uck all over the bottom.

I just like the cleaner look.

 

[rgulrich]

All four. The aquarium is a 360' walk around, with the reef going diagonally across from the "left rear" to the "right front"...

Cheers,
Ray