Those with blue background in their aquariums ....

[Len]

In my never ending planning of the new tank, I was wondering: for those with blue backgrounds, how often do you clean the back glass/acrylic, and do you find it a major chore? I love the color blue, but I fear the maintanence will kill me, especially since my tank will be 28" front to back and 28" tall, making the reach very difficult.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had acrylic tanks with both blue and black backs, never cleaned the backs of any of them. I let the coralline algae completely cover it; many times I never cleaned the sides.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[Anonymous]

I like a deep dark blue background. But I do not clean it, ever. I just let the coraline, montipora caps, whatever, grow on it. Got some zoo's growing on it too!

Louey

 

[Sprattoo]

I don't have blue background, but my tank is in the middle of two rooms. So I clean half of my tanks backside, one end and the front. The rest of the glass I never clean, I just let the purple coraline hide everything. every 2 or 3 days I run my magnetic cleaning jigger over the whole thing to thin out the brown "dust". Then about once every few weeks (or when company is coming over) I grab a new utility knife blade and scrape the glass clean of coraline.

I went with glass just for this reason and a few others, cleaning and not worrying about scratches. BUT My tank is easily accesible from both sides so I can stand on both sides. I have a 29G that isn't so easy, but that one sits low and I can stand over it easily. That one I scrape maybe once a month just to let the natural sunshine in.

Either way, if you plan to scrape the back, pre-plan it and in mine, the parts I scrape the rocks are at least 6 inches from the glass (so I dont cause avalanches)

If you like blue so much, why not just let the back grow purple, or whatever and light the tank with 20Ks or actinics? maybe just suplimental 10K PC's to see all the color on occasion?

 

[Anonymous]

I don't clean mine either...

 

[Anonymous]

Len,
I have a 30" wide tank, and I have to reach across and clean the opposite side because it's an in-wall tank. (I didn't wan't cabinet doors above the tank on the flush side)
Don't do it, it sucks. Just let coraline cover it.


Jim

 

[fishfanatic2]

I used to have a blue background, I took it off becuase it started to get annoying (woudltn stay up) and it hides all sorts of algae. Sure coralline will eventually grow and cover it, but unless you start with a lot of corallline, thatll take a while. In the meantime, other greens and browns will grow, and the blue hides them until theres a ton. THen it looks disgusting. Of course, some people dont have this problem or beginning algae, but this is just IME.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a blue on my 110 and I am getting a blue back on my new tank. I like the blue better than nothing. Eventually the coraline covered most of it, but never 100%. The blue comming through was nice.

 

[Anonymous]

I've got blue on the 180, Len...and have had blue on every reef tank I've had. Never cleaned it, never had to...just let nature cover it.

Peace,

Chip

 

[SnowManSnow]

<-- has blue on his tank.. I like the look... its no tougher to clean than the front glass (wonderes why it would be). I used latex paint on mine.. the outside of course..

I think it would really look cool if you could airbrush latex paint from a darker to a lighter shade as you move up (always wanted to do that)

Have a great day!
B

 

[Anonymous]

I cleaned my back glass for over a year. I'm now a few weeks into leaving it alone. IMO it was a PITA. I only have a 125(18" wide).

 

[Fastmarc]

My background was blue. I liked it.
Like others, I never clean mine, so the blue background is no longer visible.
To me, it looks more natural with coralline, etc. growing on it.

 

[liquid]

I had a blue background on my 38 and gave up scraping it after a while. I just couldn't keep up with the coralline. The one thing I'm toying with right now is somehow casting a background out of either cement or polyester so that it actually looks like liverock. I think it'd be cool to be able to attach stuff to the back wall and would make for an interesting visual presentation with areas of "rock" sticking out.

Shane

 

[leftovers]

paint the back a royal or dark blue and dont worry about it

if you dont like you can remove with a razor.... the coraline will on the inside will add depth due to the subtle shadows created by your lights....

 

[Anonymous]

Yuk, I hate colored backgrounds! If you love blue get some nice blue corals and fish and they will stand out great against a solid black background.

 

[Anonymous]

I used to have a blue background.

Now it is a coralline algae background, because I never clean it.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Yuk, I hate colored backgrounds! If you love blue get some nice blue corals and fish and they will stand out great against a solid black background.

I agree, the shadow of the lights especially off white walls and especially at nite looks fantastic IMO.

 

[Playdope]

Len -

I have blackback on my 100, and i painted the back of my 29 deep blue. The deep blue is just as effective in hiding algae like the black, and gives that slightly more natural feel . However, I don't know if anyone has asked... what do you plan to keep in this tank.

If it were me:

SPS dominant - light blue back kept clean looks SWEET
But what I really want is a tank that is clear backed that could be seen from both sides !

 

[Mouse]

Black is the new Blue baby, let the reef stand out on its own, dont try and contrast it.

Also:

Black + purple + green = yum
Blue + Purple + green = yuk (like id have to point it out)

Im never changing from black again, allways used to have blue, but you loose that 'into the blue yonder' look as soon as it gets dirty.

Plus black with make the fish look awesome, it really picks them out, ESPECIALLY the white ones, i never really had a thing for white fish, but against a black background they look like gems.

So i would go with black, at least untill they invent a darker colour.

 

[Len]

I think I'm going to compromise and go with the suggestion of getting a really dark blue. I love that light blue look, but I know it's going to be impossible to keep up with cleaning. My current black background masks everything but coralline.