Haha this was my thinking as well. Just DON'T MOVE anything -- filter outputs, powerheads, whatever... because then you get a big clear spot in the shape of what you just moved. LOL the back of my tank is looking like a wierd half-finished jigsaw puzzle right now.
i have two tanks that get "algae" one is the high brackish tank that gets diatomes when i get sick of the loud protine skimmer and shut it off.. this tank gets all 4 sides cleaned with the following water change
the other tank that gets "algae" is my feeder tank.. theres not abit of algae in it however there is a lot of biofilm that builds up on everything.. sometimes i clean it off when i do a water change.. sometimes not..
I clean all of the lagea off... i have no background so spots floating in mid air look crap... its pretty easy to do once a week with a sponge when i do a waterchange and it stays clean for about a week (I have a 12 hour light cycle as its the main light in my studio)
Sometimes. I prefer to clean the front only. If I still had my nerite snails (which I inadvertently killed because of praziquantel dosing), I would not be cleaning all four walls.
My tank is hard to look at because its outdoors. Everytime it rains the rain drops leaves stains on the hood and the glass which I have to clean almost everyday. And since its outdoors it is exposed to sunlight but weirdly at the begining algae is growing like crazy but ow no algae is growing in the glass only on driftwood. I don't clean the back too because the background is black and you can hardly see the dirt.
thank everyone for the input i like the natural look also of only cleaning the front, and my lights are also on for quite a while due to its the main light in my apartment living room