5G minimalist tank experiment

[dinosaur_1552]

This tank is my attempt to create a minimalist reef tank with the absolute minimum total kit possible.

11/11/25, major reaquascaping :

02/11/25 tank swap to a 5g :

05/10/25 2.5G:

 

[mapman]

I had a similar setup about 3 years ago. Same tank and just had a HOB filter. I ended tearing it down and getting a bigger tank.

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Done the lid, I am super happy with it for 11.75 + some elbow grease, looks almost like the same material as the tank itself. In the past I did acrylic lids but they eventually always bent - this time it is polycarbonate, I have big hopes it's gonna stay straight.

I also got a refractometer and some fluval carbon in bags, I like its simplicity, just rinse and chuck it in in case of an emergency - I hope I will never have to use it.

At the moment I think I won't need anything else - maybe a nitrate test - and the next expenditure will be CUC/corals.

Next things I want to do are:
- finish cycling
- cable management/maybe a simple canopy
- somehow apply the sponge around the pump intake to make sure it won't clog up ever.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along! Looks like you are off to a good start!

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Well, I am starting to get bored with the cycling as absolutely nothing seems to be happening last 7-8 days, ammonia is same as before, which is very unusual with zyme 9.

I never cycled a bare bottom tank and I read that it might take longer, but I refuse to accept it takes this long, so I bought some coral skeletons (I love them) for a tenner to add some surface area and some colony as well. I rinsed the coral skeletons, soaked them in zyme 9 and colony for 2 minutes and added them to the tank, also added a bit of zyme 9 on top with the pump turned off for a while.

Also bought some test strips and a ph meter, ph is 7.8, no nitrite and nitrate.

I will give this another week and if nothing happens I will likely do a full water change while keeping rocks wet and continue from there - if I see nothing in 2 weeks with colony and zyme then bare bottom or not, there must be something wrong, I can only assume something was not rinsed properly (my eggcrate stinked big time) or there is other kind of contamination.

p.s.: lid is supergood, salinity is still exactly 35ppt after a week

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Well, two weeks gone and nothing changed so as I planned I did a full water change, also swapped the stinkiest plastic parts in the filter block to different ones - hopefully in these two weeks most of the harmful chemicals are gone - and not into the rocks

I also had another tiny tank from older times, a UNS 25S, which I set up in the meantime as well in the same way and for that filter block I used not stinky plastics only and soaked everything in water for a day or so.

Another round of water, salt, prime, ammonia, zyme and colony in both tanks and now wait once again what happens, this time I plan to wait a month without touching them and then reevaluate after.

-

I also happen to have 2 Aquaknight A029 30W lights from a couple of years ago and while I really wanted to do a very-very low budget build it would be really dumb not to use the lights I already have.

I managed to come up with a simple idea as far as fixing them above, bottom of the tank would be 27cm from the light, I guess there would be 300-400+ par directly under it

So it seems even more tinkering is in the pipeline...

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Here we go!!

For me nitrites normally take the same time as it took for the ammonia, so it might mean I got to wait another 2-3 weeks before I can put that tang into this 2.5g...

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I also tried the aquaknight A029 light, but was unhappy mainly with the noise, so bought the light which I always wanted to try, the Fluval nano light, the new 4.0 25W version was on sale and so far looks supergood, coverage is outstanding, no fans, so dead silent and seems I am gonna have plenty of 200+ PAR areas in the tank.

Devil is in the details, German and UK HQ addresses are printed on that thing, IP 67 waterproof and you DON'T have to sign up to anywhere to use the app, you need to share zero personal data (knock wood it stays like that) you can entirely skip that part. Overall the whole thing looks like the product of some sensible engineers...

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[dinosaur_1552]

I learned today that polycarbonate is fluorescent

 

[dinosaur_1552]

A bit of an aquascaping.

Started with reef glue + baking soda, switched to glue only, seams are much less visible this way and equally as strong.

Left them drying fully overnight then I gave all joints a solid pull and all holds up.

And there is a proof glue is stronger than the actual rock, I dropped one and the rock broke - just above the seam:

They are around 11-12 cm tall, that means tops will be 14-15cm below the light - according to fluval that is 380+ PAR

The thing I dont get is that the light is on 100%, I feel the heat on my hands on the light side, but the actual casing, the back and the sides are literally COLD (mind you, no fan in the light). Where the heat goes!!??

 

[dinosaur_1552]

 

[Roachant]

I was considering that light for a 5 gallon nano Zoa tank. Seems like they did a better job with the 4.0 versus the 3.0.

 

[dinosaur_1552]

I was considering that light for a 5 gallon nano Zoa tank. Seems like they did a better job with the 4.0 versus the 3.0.

For my shallow nano I am so far happy - especially with the fanless quiet operation - with deeper/bigger tanks might not work as well.

Ofc I don't have yet corals etc, so I don't know how well it actually grows things.

Also both lights (got another for another tank) only draw 21W from the socket, so not sure about the claimed 25W.

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Did a ridge/tunnel and a plate with overhangs all around

I like these two much better than the former ones and will probably look much better having two bigger centerpieces in a tank than multiple smaller structures.

Starting to have second thoughts maybe I should take apart some of the former ones and create these bigger & better shapes, will leave this decision later - I can buy a pack of rocks anytime for 12£, aquascape and swap out the ones I don't like and for now I had enough of gluing rocks together.

I also changed tanks to 2x5G in the meantime maxing out the space I intended to use for reefing for now, reorganised filter blocks, will have to cut new lids etc - then I put all rocks to their final place and while the cycle finishes I setup compact phyto and pod cultures, the miniature version

 

[ga2040]

Does it need water or can that also be cut ? :)
(Just kidding)

Looks good by the way.

 

[TheNative192]

Did a ridge/tunnel and a plate with overhangs all around

I like these two much better than the former ones and will probably look much better having two bigger centerpieces in a tank than multiple smaller structures.

Starting to have second thoughts maybe I should take apart some of the former ones and create these bigger & better shapes, will leave this decision later - I can buy a pack of rocks anytime for 12£, aquascape and swap out the ones I don't like and for now I had enough of gluing rocks together.

I also changed tanks to 2x5G in the meantime maxing out the space I intended to use for reefing for now, reorganised filter blocks, will have to cut new lids etc - then I put all rocks to their final place and while the cycle finishes I setup compact phyto and pod cultures, the miniature version

What type of tang do you think you will add in terms of fish?

 

[dinosaur_1552]

What type of tang do you think you will add in terms of fish?

At least a shoal of yellow and black tangs and maybe a harem of clowns as well with their nems, push hard down on them with the lid then I add some water on top if there is still any space left

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Now that I mostly have everything I wanted and nothing is on order as far as kit, I added up all costs: 998£

Main items:

2x5g tanks with lid
2x2.5g tanks with lid (which I use for ttm for fish/maybe qt/fun)
2x fluval nano reef light
2x USB hubs
4x nano rock pack
3x pumps, heaters

That's above around ~660£.


Rest is the tiny stuff, pipes, airlines, tests, ammonia badges, bacteria, eggcrate and all kind of mats ~340£.

Now I really wanted to make this a budget build, but seems I failed big time (I gave budget up once I got the fluval lights), seems I am gonna go over 1K before I can add any life lol

Probably thats the reality and 1K is still a low total budget I assume

On the other hand I have 2x5G low maintenance nanos with autofeeders etc free to do whatever I want (shoal of tangs inc ), 2 smaller tanks for TTM/QT/fun, everything for phyto/pod culturing (just need to assemble it) and I still have some space on the shelf I allocated for the reefing hobby.

 

[dinosaur_1552]

One tank was cycled a few days ago, but as I swapped tanks, filter block and removed a lot of rock rubble while aquascaping I was slightly worried whether bacteria populated the stuff I removed , so I added 2ppm ammonia yesterday and it seems to be processing it in 24hrs, at the moment its in the nitrite phase - once that's gone tank is ready for next step.

In the other tank - which I started 3 weeks later - I wanted to hurry things a bit, so I pulled an airline to the outside my office to raise ph - raised it to 8.1 from 7.9 (to introduce more free ammonia, which to my best knowledge is processed by the bacteria).

Today I start to see a very-very slight tint of purple on the nitrite and nitrate on the test strips, so happy days, things are finally moving in both tanks.

Today I just ordered the things necessary for the next steps, a few different types of waste processing bacteria/biofilm stuff which I want to introduce next, tetra and nano starter cultures as well.

I will buy pods and rotis off an LFS once I have the first batch of phyto out, MH with marine fish normally stocks them and then I can check if they are alive or not in person - a few times I got fully dead pods through post.

 

[nickscorals]

Nice scape!

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

Pls don't use the strips to test water

it will miss you up a lot use API testing liquid like the reef Master or the regular salt water one it's a good start off for you because your new to the hobby