i would like to start a pico reef tank, help!

[linds3y]

Hello, no saltwater experience here! I have a 75 gallon, 15 gallon and 3 gallon to myself that are all freshwater and I also maintain my mothers 10 & 15 gallon tanks. I am enchanted by saltwater and have never done it before mainly because I am totally intimidated lol and have no idea where to start. I really want a pick tank (5 gallons tops. ) I know, I know, the bigger the better but another big tank is simply not an option due to space, I cannot go any larger than 5 gallons and preferably smaller.
How should I start? Suggestions?
What fish/inverts/corals/anemone ect can be kept in a 5g or smaller? I really like blennies and oscellaris clown if those are possibilities?

Stocking suggestions are appreciated as well as ideal substrate and what I need to get started. I will be dedicated to the extra work of maintaining a tiny tank, I just need some help getting started. Thanks SO MUCH and sorry for writing a novel!

 

[linds3y]

Pico * autocorrect changed to pick lol

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

In a 5 gallon tank there are no clown fish and no blennies that would survive. You have few options.... Maybe small gobies would work but thats it...

 

[Mrc8858]

A tank that size I wouldn't add any fish to just do inverts and corals which will also help water quality being such a small tank

 

[linds3y]

Okay gobies are cool too I really would like to have at least one small fish, I could possibly do like 7-8 gallon if I can find a nice cube shaped tank that doesn't take up much room . Would that be better?

 

[Mrc8858]

Okay gobies are cool too I really would like to have at least one small fish, I could possibly do like 7-8 gallon if I can find a nice cube shaped tank that doesn't take up much room . Would that be better?

When talking these sizes every gallon counts but could you manage space for a 10 cause that will really open up your options

 

[linds3y]

I could do 10 if I can find one with a cube shape rather than long

 

[Mrc8858]

What are the dimensions that you have to stay in because being that small you could easily have lowes/home depot cut you some acrylic and with a little DIY experience you could maximize the space available to you for pretty low cost

 

[linds3y]

This wont be happening for a while btw, so there's plenty of time to discuss options and search for the perfect equipment

 

[Mrc8858]

Well if you've got time then get some scrap acrylic from them probably get it for free and practice welding acrylic a little bit and when you feel comfortable you could build your own customized rimless pico reef and that small Leds would be pretty cheap to light with so it could look very clean and sexy

 

[linds3y]

Ohh dimensions I'm not sure lol, I just don't want to overwhelm my room too much as the 3 tanks I mentioned to be mine are all in there as well Haha. To give you an idea, I would probably be setting this tank on my bedside table but I'll have to get a tape measure and take some measurements to let you know what the size of the base would be

 

[Mrc8858]

Plus if building your own with a little research you could do an intank filtration built into the back to hide equipment much like the biocubes

 

[linds3y]

That sounds awesome lol how do you weld acrylic? I like the look of those one tanks, I think they're called eclipse..also the fluval ones that look pretty sharp, I'd like to do something along those lines

 

[linds3y]

Oh man haha I've never done any diy tank stuff but this is sounding very appealing!

 

[Mrc8858]

Welding acrylic is essentially just glueing but you aren't bonding two pieces with a glue your actually chemically melting the two together with a reagent resulting in a stronger piece then the sheet of acrylic much like welding metals

 

[Mrc8858]

This is actually on my list of tanks to do lol my first pico tank im gonna do from the ground up

 

[Mrc8858]

One thing to keep in mind when going DIY in this hobby is don't get overwhelmed.. most things in this hobby work best when built with simplicity in mind. So just think about you pico build as just glueing a box together with a couple compartments in it not that your building a mini reef. To do something like this all you would need to do is partition off a part of the back to have water flow into thru an overflow cut out and drain down over some type of filtration be it sponges filter floss or live rock and then into a return section with a small pump to send it back into the tank which would also give you one point of water flow to work with much like a circulation pump keeping down the equipment needed and seen.

 

[linds3y]

Ohhh okay, I think I've probably seen some things similar to that on youtube, I guess I'd better get to looking up how-tos! I'm getting excited ahahah.
Thanks for all the awesome ideas! I don't have much experience building things, I'm just 18 and didn't take any "shop" like classes in high school but this doesn't sound too hard, plus the guy at my local sw go-to place is awesome, he'll probably be a huge help

 

[Mrc8858]

Ohhh okay, I think I've probably seen some things similar to that on youtube, I guess I'd better get to looking up how-tos! I'm getting excited ahahah.
Thanks for all the awesome ideas! I don't have much experience building things, I'm just 18 and didn't take any "shop" like classes in high school but this doesn't sound too hard, plus the guy at my local sw go-to place is awesome, he'll probably be a huge help

I never took any "classes" on anything like that but just with a little thought and a lot of research anything can be done if you want it enough which who doesn't want a reef at home

 

[linds3y]

Exactly hahah, I can't imagine something of this size will be too terribly hard to do, either.