Small reef tank setup... Any help?

Hey guys, I have a 5 gallon tank i am hoping to be my first saltwater. I am hoping to make it a small reef or clown home. with maybe some small inverts. maybe a cleaner shrimp. I am very new to saltwater and need some help!!! i have the tank and thats about it. Can you guys let me know everything i need to start doing and trying to get please let me know and if anyone out ther has some leftover gear that yu think would be helpfull would be reat.. I really love the look of a saltwater reef tank with clowns. Its jsut awesome. so if anyone has some tips or anything just let me know... thanks

 

You could handle at most one aquacultured false perc clown in a 5 gallon tank. It's a good starter but you're going to have some work to do. You'll need 5lbs of live sand and 7.5-10lbs of live rock. You'll need a filtration system, and I'm a bit fuzzy on filtering a tank this small. You're into micro-nano territory. You might be able to get away with a fresh water filter and a powerhead.

I would contact reefcleaners for a cleaning crew suggestion, 5 hermits 2 turbo's and a cleaner shrimp perhaps? or something within those lines. You're going to have to monitor water quality carefully in a tank that small. I would not keep corals. I would not keep an anemone. You're going to need a lighting system for a tank that size. Really so long as you don't have a problem doing some jury rigging, I'd get a directional desk lamp, or clip on lamp with a 10k-14k bulb.

 

Sounds good. I jsut really would love to get this project moving. This would be my first and im really hoping to do this right. I love the look of a nice natural environment. If you wouldnt suggest a clown in this smaall what would you think would be good to start off with after i get the cleaners going?

Still anyone out there with any ideas about what i need to do.

Thanks,

 

not to get you down or anything but starting off with a tank that small is alot harder then say a 10g or 15g tank. Down here in florida they sell 10g tanks for 10 bucks. You could get a bio-wheel hang on the back filter, I would get it rated to handle atleast twice the amount of water volume you go with. For fish you could probably get away with a nice little clown goby or in a ten gallon you could to a false or true percula and maybe a pair of blue neon cleaner gobies. I wouldnt get a turbo in this small of a tank. 5 blue legs would be good. I would go with 3 or 4 astera snails