Cheap ideas for spare 5g? Grow food? Macro? Turn mollies to SW? Need some ideas.

[STiTCH87]

So I have a spare 5g tank I just found while going through spare stuff in the basement. It's a virtually brand new, scratch free 5g aquaeon tank with filter, media, heater, hood, and light.
I don't want to set up a full functioning 5g as I already have one, plus I don't have the money to do so. But I was thinking, what else can I use it for? I'd hate to see it go to waste.
It'd be put in a temperature controlled room so it'd have stable temps between 76-80 all day everyday without a fan. I suppose I could buy a cheap clip on LED light if need be.

Thing is, I already have a 5g spaced area in my 20g sump under my 40g so I don't want to do anything with this that I could just do in there (i.e. grow chaeto).

I was thinking maybe a mass harvesting of pods or mysid or something. But I want it to be very easy to do and respectfully inexpensive.
I don't want to have to worry about the tank if everything in it dies off, I just wanna be able to shrug it off if I lose whatever is in it.

I was also thinking about turning a mollie from FW to SW or some other brackish fish but IDK if it's worth it as IDK how great of a cleaner fish they even are or if i'd ever even want one or if anyone else would.

So i'm completely open to idea. Trying not to spend over $50 in additional supplies for this tank if I can help it so try and bear that in mind. Unless ofcourse the idea involves sand and/or rock respectively.

 

[Trevor]

I had mollies in my tank, they were pretty neat and also did pick here and there, for the tank I would do like a pod grow out tank, that would be neat, once they get growing you could scoop some up with a net and put in your other tanks also

 

[STiTCH87]

Yeah I was kind of leaning toward the pod idea myself. Can I grow them without chaeto and maybe without any lighting? I have to look into it more. I've read something about green water but IDK what that is or if it's better to grow them in that than in normal clean SW. Or whats best to feed them or whatever. Hmm. Because I do have a shipment of amphipods and copepods coming in from Reefs2Go in a few days anyways so I could always put a few in the 5g to grow out I suppose.

 

[Trevor]

I don't think they need light or cheato, maybe some coarse sand or crushed shells to hide in, I would just throw a bit of food in every once in awhile.

 

[Trevor]

And for mollies I barely changed mine, I basically just threw them into my tank and they lived for years

 

[CoralJunkie]

I just started a tisbe pod 10 gallon all I have is an air pump with no stone and every so often I feed then the live phyto feast, the population has exploded, needless to say my mandarin is fat and happy

 

[STiTCH87]

Hmm... Got me thinking. I don't have a mandarin though. Afraid it'd eat all the pods which is all my pygmy wrasse eats.

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[Trevor]

If you get enough of them going you could have them all !

 

[STiTCH87]

That would be so awesome lol. But don't larger pods eat smaller pods? IDK which pods specifically my tanaka wrasse eats as I have never in my life ever seen him eat. Anything. Ever. Lol.
I'd be so afraid that i'd introduce a pod population that eats all of his food up while he doesn't want to eat the different type and then he starves. He's my favorite fish ever so i'm paranoid about him.
Can a mandarin survive strictly on tisbe?

 

[Trevor]

Who big is the wrasse? And I think for the mandarin he would be find, he would find food

 

[STiTCH87]

It's a Tanaka's Pygmy Possum Wrasse. But it eats strictly pods and other tiny crustaceans and is hunting all day for them just like a mandarin so IDK. I think I'd be too paranoid about reducing his food supply. Plus I can get a mandarin for $15. The cheapest I can get a Tanaka's wrasse (not to mention how extremely uncommon they are) is $45. I'd rather keep the expensive fish alive lol.

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