5 Gallon Help

[The Fish Tankist]

Hi. This my first saltwater aquarium and I would like some tips and feedback. In the end, I would like to have some coral and maybe a couple clownfish. I got some live rock from my LFS and took a shot at aquascaping it. In my mind, it looks good, but I don't know if it will work for fish and corals. Any tips? FYI, The sand in the tank is CaribSea Arag-Alive. Also, any tips on how to cycle the tank? I won't be adding fish for another month or so, so it doesn't need to be a fast method. The current light I have is a factory light that came with the tank, but I am planning on purchasing a used Kessil A80 in the near future.

Thx.

 

[Rednamalas]

I wouldn't put any clownfish in a five gallon, maybe you could get away with a pair of yasha or hi fin goby with a pistol shrimp. A tank that small would have trouble keeping parameters in check, so I would stick to soft corals.

 

[The Fish Tankist]

Here are pictures from the front and the side.

 

[The Fish Tankist]

I wouldn't put any clownfish in a five gallon, maybe you could get away with a pair of yasha or hi fin goby with a pistol shrimp. A tank that small would have trouble keeping parameters in check, so I would stick to soft corals.

Ok thx. Any opinions on the aquascape?

 

[Rednamalas]

I'm not super well versed in the world of aquascaping, but it looks good to me.

 

[bsr2430]

As previously stated. You shouldn’t put any fish in here.

Here’s the problems that will stem from that, you’ll see your fish get scared sometimes and they really can’t swim away, they’ll end up running in the sides or trying to jump out.
Every time you walk by the tank, the vibration will be felt from inside the tank.
To hear what your fish would hear: fill the tank, put an ear on it and tap on the glass, that’s exactly how it will sound in there.

Also, you have rock and sand already in there, so there’s probably only 3.5G of water now.

Stick to only soft corals. Your tank parameters won’t stay the same and will be all over the place. Mushrooms will be great here!!!!

Your aquascape, great setup for it how it’s right now but move the rock off from the wall. Everything will build up behind it.
I truly wish I had one of these tanks, I’d set up a desk top reef!

Also, welcome to R2R
Another one sucked i!

 

[hsn izd]

scape is good you can have 1 or 2 but know that you need to give the fish space to swim I don't agree with lots of fish in one tank but I myself put 7 clowns in one tank but you should look for space and anemones and other things
for cycling, you can use bacteries to colonize in your tank and using bacteria feeder to reduce nitrate but you should add fish to the tank after testing your all params
good luck

 

[bsr2430]

Also, I see a lot of light on the side, if it’s by a window, this will also cause issues with algae.

 

[bsr2430]

scape is good you can have 1 or 2 but know that you need to give the fish space to swim I don't agree with lots of fish in one tank but I myself put 7 clowns in one tank but you should look for space and anemones and other things
for cycling, you can use bacteries to colonize in your tank and using bacteria feeder to reduce nitrate but you should add fish to the tank after testing your all params
good luck

I personally don’t recommend a anemone in here. That anemone will move everywhere and could cause issues with corals in here.

side note, I bought 18 clownfish, all babies and all different kinds of variety. Great deal on eBay ten years ago, they did fine at young adulthood. Once they got bigger, WW3 started. I started giving them away for free. Who’s bright idea was it to sell 18 on eBay.... guess it was attended for pet stores.....