5 Gallon Mini bow build

[Bravesfan]

Hi all,

New to the forum and returning to the hobby with a spare 5 gallon mini bow that I had in the garage. I'm thinking of lighting the tank with one 20w 50/50 coralife bulb. What kind of corals do you think this will allow me to keep? Just mushrooms? Some more? Also what am I looking at in terms of fish? I'd like to keep a hi fin red banded goby with a shrimp, but I'd also like something free swimming, would the second fish be too much? What are some suggestions on the second fish? For the record I'm gonna use a deep sand bed and a lot of rock to keep the tank as stable as possible.

[ssteven1]

I have the same tank up and running. The 20 w 50/50 bulb will support mushrooms some zoas but not much else. Also the right hand of the tank will have a shadow and will not be able to grow much. It s the light that I started with. I upgraded to LED.

With the fish I would keep it to one fish. A goby is great. A second fish is pushing it. I have a firefish in mine that has done well for almost two years. Some people would say that I am pushing it with just the firefish. I had a neon Goby in there with the firefish for a little while but thought it looked cramped.

 

In small tank I would be hesitant to have a deep sand bed. It will cause problems later. I have a very shallow sand be in mine no problems in almost 2 years.

 

Here is a link to mine. Nothing fancy but a fun tank with really low maintinace.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/309888-budget-5-gallon-pico-now-with-diy-led-upgrade/

 

Just a note. Be careful that tank scratches easily.

Good luck

[Bravesfan]

Thanks for the insight... do you think the light would support trumpet corals and GSP?

[Bravesfan]

GSP and Trumpets are must haves for me lol

[ssteven1]

Maybe. I would think that you would need more light than the 20 Watt Bulb. If you look at my thread when I had to go back to the Bulb because my DIY LED went bad the Xenia and zoas were thin and not thriving.