Should you clean the back panel of your Reef Tank? I present Pros and Cons...some may surprise you.
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- Опубликовано: 20 янв 2024
- I finally decided to scape clean the back panel of my latest reef tank. Some interesting observations developed...come check out some pros and cons I observed...it may change whether you decide to clean your back panel or not...
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You can still vote! Scrape it clean or leave it be? Go here 👉 www.youtube.com/@zburnreefing/community
Accidental fragging is rough. I consider myself to be a pretty darn careful reefkeeper, and the amount of corals I’ve fragged or knocked over while scraping is pretty wild. I will say, it apparently gets better, as I don’t do it as much as I used to. But definitely part of the “cost” of the business of tank scraping. Great video, as always, sir. Definitely a relatable topic.
Now she's looking dialed in!
For a Nano tank it is essential that you scrape the glass, had a tank for over a year, it always struggled. About 3-4 months ago I started to scrape all sides and my corals color and size have almost doubled in appearance. I find that in a nano the algae on the walls will eat up all of the phosphates / nutrients way before the corals can get any leading to almost a total loss of color.
Great insight and thank you for sharing. I’ve had this belief as of late and your experience is confirming the idea. It’s one of the reasons why I took my refugium offline…I would rather feed the corals than the chaeto. I think you make a great point!
I totally agree with you decision to scrape the back panel. In my opinion an overgrown back wall makes the tank look like junk. However, it’s a real pain in the ass to do so Ive actually been considering ceramic inserts to cover that back panel and just glue corals all over it.
Interesting idea! I wouldn’t mind filling the back panel with more coral 😀!! However, I agree with you 100%, you can’t beat the clean look.
I don't scrape as I have a mandarin and the back panel is one of his hunting grounds. I get to see quite a lot of him in the upper water column, which I enjoy.
Very nice! That would be enough of a reason for myself as well. Love mandarins!
Looking good, thanks for video
I’ve been bingeing your channel lately. Love the content Z!
Thanks so much; really appreciate it!
Thank you for your great content!!
Much appreciated! It’s always good to get a comment or two like this here and there. Makes all the energy put into the videos worth it.
Definitely clean it I’ve always liked a clean back wall it takes away from the display and focus on what’s in the tank. If you don’t clean the back then why clean the front or sides 🤷🏾♂️
Great point!
The back of my tank is GSP =)
I’m with you looks far better hence changing Aquascape from all rock back panel to 3 islands . I clean mine 7-10 days or when I feel it needs it , takes 5mins with a long handle pad 👌 Just push your islands forward out the way far easier 😃 I can see you soaking the weir in vinegar over night 😂 after I do mine I dose coral snow or calcium carbonate as I flocculant for the corals . Look forward to your videos keep it up . 😀👍🏴
Yea, you are right, I probably just need to push the islands forward during cleaning. Should be doable with how they are built. Will give that a try!
pH drop... interesting!
I've recently been debating this myself as my clean up crew LOVE the back glass. My main concern is I just fought off SCA dinos and whenever I clean too much equipment or glass they come back a little in one spot. What I have decided to do was glue cyphastrea frags on the back and let them slowly take over. I put one on the left side of the overflow and one on the overflow so far. They take off pretty quick and theres alot of colors to choose from.
Yea, I was a little nervous to be honest. I scraped clean only 1/3 of the back panel and observed how things went for a few days. I’ve been down the Dino path before and understand your perspective of not wanting to alter too much! You can’t beat having corals grow on the back panel as a nice alternative!
Subscribed 🙂👍
Much thanks and welcome!
After scraping my back wall after 2 years of never scraping, i went from 0.05 phosphates to 0.22.
Thanks for chiming in. This is important information. Folks with a lot of life on their back panel may want to scrape just a little bit each week and monitor nutrient levels.
Now that im thinking I don’t think I ever clean my back wall ever and it’s clear as hell I don’t know if that’s my tank luck or my cleanup crew just on it for 10 years lmao
Wow! I have never heard of a tank that can’t grow coralline on the back wall!
Did you notice a nutrient spike? Tanks looking good.
I did not, but when researching on forums I notice that many reported that nutrients do spike for a few days if you’ve let the back panel go for a while and suddenly decide to clean it. I will say I only cleaned a third of the panel every few days to help with this.
What kind of fan do you have on your reef?
Hi there, in this video the tank just has a small 6 inch clip on air king fan. I have found it to be the quietest, so have stuck with it. I've had others on there, including those much more expensive, but they have been quite loud.
I feel like if I had a fan like that over tank I’d be ocd about dust but ignore me lmao
Small price to pay for metal halide radiums 😀
Just out of curiosity do you still struggle with the water level in your overflow?
From the start of my reefer 350 I upgraded the down sump pipe to a gate valve but I still find the water level rises to the overflow pipe by EOD after every adjustment or water change.
I'm trying to pay attention more to the salinity in my DT as I'm worried that my ATO causes those water level fluctuations.
Is that issue common on other brands of tanks?
I'd love to see a video on what you think the correct water level is. I'm so confused as to why this can't be set it & forget it
I struggled for the first 6 months, then finally swapped out the return pump for a dc pump. Once I did that, everything stabilized. I set the valve so I just get a little trickle going over into the emergency drain and accept that as good enough. It’s stayed like that without adjustment for several months now (even after water changes). Part of the problem is if your return pump fluctuates at all then the water level gets messed up in the overflow box. Definitely one of the most frustrating parts of the Red Sea tank. Annoying enough that my next tank will probably not be a Red Sea…
What return are you running?
@@zburnreefing That is super helpful to know. Since we have the same tank, what brand/model of DC return pump did you go with? / would you reco it?
@@zburnreefing PS I'm running an AC siccee pump. I forgot the model but it's one of the higher powered ones to meet the demands of a random flow generator..admittedly haven't cleaned it in the 10months my tank has been set up....
@@ap6826 I was running a sicce syncra 3.0. I replaced it with a Neptune Cor15. My sicce would just slow down or speed up randomly and mess things up. Just the smallest changes in output caused issues. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the DC pumps, get one you can make fine adjustments too. I never touch the valve anymore and if i don’t like where the water level is in the overflow I just will increase or decrease the return pump by 1% and tune it that way.
Is that a Trigger I see in there
Yes
If dirty then clean 🧼 if not don't 😮
I hate tanks with coraline algea on the back panel, takes away all depth from the scape, and clashes with coral colours. Non scraped back panels just make the aquarium look flat.
Takes poll for advice. Does opposite.