Question re: back of tank - keep glass clean or not?

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by naesco

By leaving the back of your tank alone, tiny crabs, shrimp, pods, bacteria and many many other critters have a place to home and to eat and avoid being eaten and breed.

I have to agree with this... the 10 gallon that I just dismantled had a turf of GHA (and the beginnings of some coralline), hundreds of tiny 'pods, worms, and snails living in it. It didn't look bad either, when it was turkey basted daily...

But now that I've moved everything into a shiny clean tank, I must say that I really like the clean glass. It looks great and doesn't trap detritus (the turf would catch small particles and start to look 'dusty' after a day or two). This new tank isn't sitting right against a wall, so I will scrape this one... but if you can see the wall, I wouldn't bother. Wall reflection is uglier than coralline growth, IMO.

As far as using black glass, don't bother... get automotive window tint, it has a similar effect if you use a deep tint and is reasonably durable and easily removed if you get bored of it. EDIT: Oops, missed the 'etched' part about avoiding reflection. Does black glass work that way?