To touch the back or not to touch the back - that is the question

[MariahP]

Hi team,
I have an aio that has the hard plastic back. I’m thinking about doing some aquascaping and back in ye old days I had stacked rock and leaned some of it against the back of the tank. Do you think it’s better to avoid that if possible?

My tank is a cube so it would be easy enough to avoid.

 

[90's reefer]

It depends on your taste really.
Old style, stack on back, been thier done that. Newer scapes like minimal are quite interesting, imo.

Keep in mind nano tanks are hard to clean due to limited space.
You can always glue coral to the back.
Here is my 20g nano cube.

 

[crusso1993]

Hi team,
I have an aio that has the hard plastic back. I’m thinking about doing some aquascaping and back in ye old days I had stacked rock and leaned some of it against the back of the tank. Do you think it’s better to avoid that if possible?

My tank is a cube so it would be easy enough to avoid.

Personal preference really although, if you do “the stack”, I’d not go too heavy. I personally like GSP (not a common thing, I know) and when it covers part of the back of tanks.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I did the stack on back too but it's easier to manage and get flow behind if you stay off the back, less rock required as well.

 

[MariahP]

It depends on your taste really.
Old style, stack on back, been thier done that. Newer scapes like minimal are quite interesting, imo.

Keep in mind nano tanks are hard to clean due to limited space.
You can always glue coral to the back.
Here is my 20g nano cube.
View attachment 3007081

I don’t know why, but when I was doing this years ago I never thought about gluing coral to the back! Definitely an idea for my new tank.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

I did a stack on back type on my diy AIO. I did it carefully to allow for hidden passageways for the fish to swim behind the rocks. It worked out great. I'm happy with my rock pile.