To clean or not to clean AIO chambers

[Liam's tank]

So my tank has been "wet" now for 7 months. I have a IM AIO 25 Lagoon. There are (as I'm sure many of you are aware) 4 chambers on the back of the tank. The two filter chambers, the two return cambers feeding the return pump, & the center chamber that houses the return pump. In one return chamber is my heater, in the other is a mesh bag filled with Marine Pure Biofilter Media balls & a few chunks of live rock rubble. Should I ever clean these areas? They look to have a nice coating of green algae? and who knows what else going on back there. My gut tells me to leave it alone as it appears to look very beneficial. I would greatly appreciate any input? Thanks!

 

[JoJosReef]

Great question. Mine is very very well populated with pineapple sponges. I imagine they are putting in work. Perhaps just make sure the pumps are still running without clogging and the heaters stay clean? Uh oh, I haven't done that either!!

 

[Liam's tank]

Great question. Mine is very very well populated with pineapple sponges. I imagine they are putting in work. Perhaps just make sure the pumps are still running without clogging and the heaters stay clean? Uh oh, I haven't done that either!!

Thanks, lol yes, I do clean the return pump and heater. I'm interested if I should vacuum the chambers, scrape the walls...

 

[Rocktron1]

I leave it most of the time. About every 12 months I rinse the media bags filled with matrix in the bucket of drained water during a water change, which gets the loose funky bits off without really affecting the good bacterial too much, then straight back in

Obviously I rinse the filter sponges out every water change though, but leave all the matrix, algae and pineapple sponges where they are as I believe it's all beneficial

Shine a torch in there at night, you'll be amazed at the little critters hiding in filter compartment

 

[Fish Fan]

Subbed in here. I’ve been out of the reef hobby for many, many years, and my last tank was a 125 gallon. I recently got back in with a 15 gallon IM Nuvo Fusion AIO as my “main” tank, with hopes to upgrade that to a 40+ very soon, and a 10 gallon IM Nuvo Fusion AIO as a home for a Florida gulf Mantis (N. wennerae).

Both tanks were started with rock and sand from the good ladies at Tampa Bay Saltwater that I received on November 13th 2023. I’m entirely happy with my purchase from TBS, but the rock did include a large variety of algae, including macro and micro.

I have the InTank media baskets for both tanks. I noticed recently that when I pull my media baskets out, I see green algae growing in the chamber (between the media basket and the tank baffles).

My first thought was to wipe/scrape it out. Although I started my tanks with full on aquacultured sand and rock, and I know that brings literally everything, my gut reaction was to try to keep my back filter sections clean. I also thought pulling even any algae out of my tanks would help to export excess nutrients, which have been particularly high in the Mantis tank.

I’m subbed to hear what the gurus say about this. Thanks for the help!