Does keeping glass & walls algae-free affect nutrient levels?

[jayteerq]

This may be a silly question... but I have OCD and tend to scrape my glass & back wall everyday... So i rarely let algae build up on there. I have watched some coral farmers on youtube that prefer to not touch there walls or glass at all. Im wondering, if i let the algae build up for longer periods, does it affect nutrient levels? Like does my nitrate/phosphate consumption rise if I let the glass & backwall gunk up more? Sounds silly but I was just wondering if scraping my glass and backwall everyday could be hindering some negative effects that would otherwise be beneficial if I scraped say once a week? Instead of everyday. Lol

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Letting biofilm grow on the glass provides food for snails, and also provides food for pods. If you would let the biofilm grow, you would notice trails where the snails have passed, and you would see abundance of copepods and amphipods on the glass - even during the day.

 

[jayteerq]

Letting biofilm grow on the glass provides food for snails, and also provides food for pods. If you would let the biofilm grow, you would notice trails where the snails have passed, and you would see abundance of copepods and amphipods on the glass - even during the day.

Yes I do see snails go on the glass throughout the day I see the trails. I have plenty of algae on my rocks they can eat so I think I can keep them happy with rocks alone. But yeah I just don’t know if I’m causing nutrient harm by keeping it so clean

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

no effect on nutrients :)

 

[exnisstech]

I clean the front and ends for viewing. I leave the back for snails urchins and also my tangs which peck at the glass all day. My snails rarely spend time on the rocks.

EDIT: I'm not sure about any effect on nutrients. I get a bunch of stuff floating around after I scrape. Fish follow the scraper and eat a lot of it.

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

When I had bad hair algae in my 5’ tank, it was consuming an enormous amount of Organics… as soon as I scrubbed it off and brought in more CUC, Nitrate shot up 40ppm in the space of 3 days… and I don’t overfeed…

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When I had bad hair algae in my 5’ tank, it was consuming an enormous amount of Organics… as soon as I scrubbed it off and brought in more CUC, Nitrate shot up 40ppm in the space of 3 days… and I don’t overfeed…

Do you mean organics? Or inorganic nutrients like nitrate?